


How Far We've Come

by ChillinLikeVillains, spacedbabaylan



Series: Let's see How Far We've Come [1]
Category: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types
Genre: De-Aged Characters, Fix-It, Fluff, Found Family, Shenanigans, Spaced will try to keep it asscreed canon only, Tags May Change, Tons of characters - Freeform, it takes a village to raise children, kids being kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-07
Updated: 2020-08-22
Packaged: 2020-11-26 16:30:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 25,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20933291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChillinLikeVillains/pseuds/ChillinLikeVillains, https://archiveofourown.org/users/spacedbabaylan/pseuds/spacedbabaylan
Summary: Desmond wakes up from the Animus one day to find a bunch of famous Assassins and Templars surrounding and observing him. Said Assassins and Templars are de-aged and range from babies to very young children.Found family and fix-it fic where the Templars and Assassins put aside their differences to combat a new evil and Desmond is adopted by a bunch of eager Assassins and Templars.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [esama](https://archiveofourown.org/users/esama/gifts).

> A gift for the awesome Esama, who we have binge-read straight for the past week. 
> 
> We both think Desmond deserved better than what he got in canon, and a loving family should do the trick.
> 
> Disclaimer: We don't own the franchise, but we did the writing of this fic.

Desmond woke up.

It isn’t easy waking up from sessions in the Animus. He always had a hard time getting up and processing his environment right away but today there was a weight on his chest. Literally.  
  
Desmond blinked and looked down. There was a little boy sitting on his chest staring at him.  
  
“I wanna look at Desmond too!” 

“Shh! Keep Quiet”  
“It’s not fair, Connor gets to look at him but I can’t!”  
“Shut up! We’ll get caught”  
  
Desmond blinked and turned his head. There were a bunch of kids surrounding him arguing with each other and yeah, okay, he can definitely recognize a few of them. He must be hallucinating.  
  
One of the younger children began to cry.  
  
“But… But! I wanna be with Desmond! I wanna see him!” sobbed the little boy. Another boy a little older than the crying child stayed silent but pats him gently.  
  
The child on his chest shifted and he turned his head to once again look at him. The boy was still staring and not saying a word.  
  
Desmond cleared his throat, and that got the kids' attention. All of them looked at him wide-eyed. There were nine children in total.  
  
“Hi! What’s going on here?”

At once, the floodgates open, all the kids clambered up and around and clamored for his attention.  
  
“You’re awake! About time!”  
“You looked funny sleeping. Was the bad chair making you feel bad?”  
“Desmond, Desmond! We wanna story! Tell us a story!”

  
He takes them all in, two little girls, one with dark skin and even darker curls, and one with freckles littering her face are sitting on his left. There is a boy next to the girl with freckles that has similar freckles and eyes as her and is curiously poking his immobile body. These children couldn’t be younger than four.  
  
A child, probably five or six, hair tied in a ponytail is holding hands with a little one who is sucking their thumb staring wide-eyed at him.  
  
There were two boys around eight or nine years of age watching the child on his chest. They looked like they could be brothers but… the blonde hair one looked more mischievous than the other. The darker haired one, on the other hand, was calm and collected and was watching all the children.  
  
Desmond then turns his head to see the last two kids. _ Oh. _ He knows who these are. He has lived their adult lives in the Animus.  
  
The older one is about seven, supporting the younger one who is about four who is still crying for his attention. They both look like him.  
  
“ _ Altair _ ? ** _Ezio_ ** ?” he asked incredulously. The older one, Altair, nodded. The younger one cried, “Desmond! Desmond! We thought you wouldn’t wake up anymore!”. He tried pushing off the five-year-old on his chest. “Connor, get off!!!” 

Connor didn’t budge.  
  
“Connor… was it?” Desmond asked kindly. The boy kept quiet. “I need to get up. Is it okay if you get off my chest?”. Connor looked like he wanted to protest at that. “I promise I won’t go anywhere. I just want to sit up,” Desmond tried again.  
  
This time, Connor peered at him suspiciously before slowly getting down. Desmond does sit up and take in the children surrounding him.  
  
Before he could ask them anything, Lucy, Shaun, and Rebecca enter the room and froze when they took in the scene before them.  
  
Desmond, surrounded by children, a few of them clinging to him, shrugged and said, “Congratulations, we’re parents”

* * *

The younger children refuse to part with Desmond, clinging to his arms, and absconding his lap. The older children just sit near him watching the younger kids and Desmond.  
  
Desmond, surprisingly, felt quite at ease with his new babysitter role. He was patient with the younger ones, especially the more demanding of the children, like Ezio.  
  
This was in stark contrast to Lucy, Rebecca, and Shaun who were losing their shit.  
  
“How did they get in!?” Rebecca demanded. She has scrubbed the CCTV footage and all that they can garner is that one minute the room was empty save for Desmond, and the next thing they know, there were nine kids.  
  
Shaun grit his teeth, “Unless the Isu had a stork service, I refuse to believe there is no logical reason they are here”.  
  
Lucy was silent. She was observing Desmond as he tried, once again, to stop one of the children from climbing his shoulders. One of the older children, the dark-haired one, stared back at her.  
  
He was nearer to her than the others so she thought she’d get answers from one of the culprits.  
  
“Hi!” Lucy said. The boy blinked...then moved closer to Desmond.  
  
“Ah...no, no! I’m just gonna make small talk! What’s your name?” 

He doesn't answer her, instead, he looked down.

"We can't help you if you keep quiet," Lucy crouched down near him. The boy kept silent. She tried again, "Please?" 

The boy looked at Desmond as if asking for permission but Desmond is preoccupied with the toddlers. 

After a long time, he quietly answered, "Haytham". Lucy perked up, "What's that?" 

"Haytham. I'm Haytham," the boy said. He then looked serious when he tells her, "Will you tell them?"

Lucy tilted her head. "Tell who?"

Haytham narrowed his eyes, "Them. About Abstergo"

Lucy straightened and stood up in shock. Haytham seemed unfazed. "You should tell Desmond and the others," he looked towards Desmond. "Tell them before it's too late".

Lucy backed away. Desmond was now looking at them. She headed towards Shaun and Rebecca, mind in a whirl.

* * *

"I'm Evie and this is my twin brother, Jacob!" the little girl with freckles introduced herself to Shaun. Her brother, toddling after his sister, stared at Shaun with his clear, green eyes. "What's your name?"

"Working, go away" Shaun replied in a clipped voice. The twins have noticed his accent and latched on to him while Desmond was busy with Rebecca, researching about the children. 

Jacob narrowed his eyes at that tone while Evie didn't seem to notice, "Hello Working-Go-Away, what're you doing?" 

Shaun winced. He was _ so _ out of his depth compared to Desmond. He has no patience for children. He looked at little Jacob glaring at him and then at Desmond...who was watching him. For some reason, Shaun felt he did not want to disappoint Desmond on this and it surprised him. Annoyed, he turned his attention back to Evie who was smiling mischievously. _ Ah, _ she was doing this on purpose, the little…  
  
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude,” he said. Better get it over with. “Evie and Jacob was it? My name is actually Shaun. Where are you from?”. Jacob visibly relaxed and Evie’s smile grew wider, accepting his apology.  
  
Desmond smiled at him before turning his attention back to Ezio and the littlest one who are both on his lap vying for attention. Shaun’s heart skipped a beat. _ Stupid, sexy, idiotic… _  
  
“We’re from Crawley! Are you from London too?”  
  
A sense of sadness overwhelmed Shaun when she asked that. How far from home they were then, huh?  
  
“Yes, I was. A long time ago” he paused. “Where are your parents?”. Jacob’s face immediately shuts down and his shoulders rise. Evie’s smile also is wiped from her face. Shaun panicked, thinking he must have said the wrong thing. Evie took Jacob’s hand. “We never met our mama. And our Father…” She shook her head then to Shaun’s surprise, she smiled back at him. “But now that we’re here, Desmond is gonna be our new papa!” she said with all the conviction a four-year-old can muster. 

Shaun just stared at her gobsmacked. New ** _WHAT!?_ **

She then babbled away as Jacob fidgeted in place and Shaun just stared at them like his mind was blown. 

Then Lucy came back to the room, looking grim and then Shaun’s mind was blown again when she announced that she was a Templar.

* * *

  
  
“So...you’re like a double...agent? Why are you telling us this now?” Rebecca for some reason wasn’t as angry as they thought she would be. Granted, she was holding the youngest of the children and was holding a tiny foot in one of her hands and he lets her. The child with the ponytail sits near them and is waving a toy in front of the youngest one’s face.  
  
Lucy thinned her lips and then looked at one of the older children. “I figured...I needed to come clean about this. This goes beyond us now”. She gestured to the children.  
  
Shaun stood up, angry, and began to pace, “You told us because you became guilty because of the kids. How _ generous _ of you”.  
  
Lucy glared at him, “Yes, Shaun, because of the kids! I don’t know where they came from, or what is going on, but the world is ending and I’d rather it not because they won’t have a future”  
  
Shaun sits down in a huff. Lucy sighed and continued, “And I am not stupid to put my faith that Abstergo would treat them well. Who knows what they would do to them?”  
  
The dark-haired one narrowed his eyes and then said, “It is not in our tenets to hurt children or innocents. They are not true Templars”.  
  
Lucy snapped her head quickly in his direction, “And what makes a true Templar then, Haytham? Who are you really?”  
  
Haytham was about to answer but the blonde-haired one put a hand on his shoulder and said, “I think the time for secrets is over. We should introduce ourselves” He grinned and thumped his chest. “I’m Edward Kenway”. He then pointed at a fuming Haytham, “This is my son, Haytham”. Haytham rolled his eyes. “My grandson, Ratonhnhaké:ton but you can call him Connor”. Connor is staring at Desmond particularly at Desmond’s lap. It looks like he’s planning to push Ezio out of the way. “Mentor Altair Ibn-La’Ahad” Altair winced at his full title. “And Mentor Ezio Auditore,” Ezio stuck out his tongue at Connor and clung to Desmond tighter. “You can use those fancy machines of yours to check, but we’re Desmond’s ancestors”.  
  
There was a pregnant silence in that statement. Edward cheerfully paid it no mind. “The kid with the ponytail is Shay Cormac, and the little one over there is Arno Dorian”. Shay waves and then goes back to waving the toy in front of Arno who was opening and closing his hands trying to get it. “The little lady next to them is Aveline de Grandpre” Aveline grinned. “And the twins are Evie and Jacob Frye” both of the kids waved enthusiastically. “And aside from Haytham, and Shay, we were all Assassins”.  
  
There was another pregnant pause. None of the adults could fathom the implications coming out of Edward’s mouth.  
  
Rebecca shook her head then peered at Arno, who had finally grabbed the toy from Shay. “Were?”  
  
Edward tilted his head amused, “I don’t think those titles would be appropriate for us now we’re children again”. He thumped Haytham in the back. “You might think about joining the Assassins this time, Haythie”  
  
“_Never,” _ hissed Haytham angrily, “Mind your own business, father”. Edward grinned, "You could call me Edward. We’re the same age now, I don’t mind”.  
  
Haytham looked down then said quietly, “I’ll think about it”.  
  
Connor had successfully climbed Desmond’s other knee and Ezio looked like he would pull a tantrum. Desmond’s arms encircled them both and he lifted them. He feels a pat on his leg and looked down. Aveline is smiling at him. He kneels so he is almost eye level with her. “The others will come soon,” she said. All the adults stared at her in surprise. She nodded her little head sagely, “The others would come but we won’t be able to help much until we’re a little older. Assassins, Templars, and everyone in the know. You should start building connections”.  
  
This alarmed Lucy, Rebecca, and Shaun. What she is saying, is _unthinkable_. There is barely anything left of the Assassin order because of the Templars, particularly what they did to Daniel Cross and made him do.  
  
Desmond shook his head, “I’m afraid that’s impossible.” Aveline smiled sweetly like this is a thing she knows that will happen for sure. Desmond sighed, “I’m just one man, what do you think I could do?”  
  
Aveline touched his face, “You are more than what you think you are, Desmond Miles and we are here to help you. You are not alone and we won’t leave you. We’re just so sorry we came only now”.  
  
She then patted his face and then toddled in another direction. Desmond felt something stuck in his throat as he straightened up with Connor and Ezio. 

After a tense silence with no one saying anything, Desmond sighed and said, “Call the Mentor. We’ll figure out what to do next from there”


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bill is here

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chillin here. Welcome to the second chapter of "Desmond gets the softness he truly deserves".
> 
> Disclaimer: We own precisely none of this, except good things happening to Desmond. That we wrote.

Bill comes a week later but by that time Desmond, Shaun, Rebecca, and Lucy had researched as much as they could about the children.  
  
What they found stunned them. They were all Master Assassins save Haytham, who was a Grandmaster of the Templar Rite. Shay, it turned out, was an Assassin who joined the Templars. He follows Arno around like a big brother, and the toddler lets him.   
  
Lucy looked at Shay worriedly. “From what I can find, Shay assassinated Arno’s father. Is it safe to keep him around Arno?”. She folded the clothes they have gotten for the kids and put them into neat little piles. Rebecca looked over the food they stocked up for them and their newest additions. 

"He's safe enough at the moment. Arno prefers having him close, and Shay is determined to stay near him,” Rebecca answered. They learned this the first time they had to take Arno away from Shay, the older boy breaking out into angry tears when Arno left his sight. Arno was the only one who was two years old, on the verge of turning three, and still needed some assistance in the bathroom. It was a problem.  
  
Lucy hummed. She picked up the tiny modern clothes they were able to buy, put them in a pile, and then came face to face with William Miles.  
  
Bill cocked an eyebrow as she dropped the clothes in shock.  
  
“Still here, Miss Stillman? Why are you roaming around after you freely admitted you’re a Templar?”  
  
Lucy thinned her lips and bent to pick up the clothes. “I’m here because the situation has changed, and I’m not leaving”. 

“How capricious of you”  
  
Lucy straightened and then nodded her head in the direction of the kids, “See for yourself. Desmond is with them right now.'' And with that, she stalked off in a huff. Rebecca and Shaun stared at each other then looked at Bill.  
  
Rebecca shrugged, “So… I’m gonna...sort the food and see if the kids have allergies or stuff in the Animus.”  
  
Shaun sighed, “Wow, _ thanks _ ”. Bill narrowed his eyes. “Take me to my son. ** _Now_ **, Shaun.”

“Okay, okay. Bloody _ hell. _”

* * *

Desmond is surrounded by children. 

It’s a sight that makes something catch in Bill’s throat. Desmond is surrounded by children and he’s smiling. Happy and healthy (well maybe not _ that _ healthy, he still looks sickly from the Animus, though he did look better than he had in the pictures Shaun and Rebecca sent him), more so than Bill could say he’d ever seen his son.  
  
At the moment, there was a little boy crying and stamping his foot, another pouting while holding what appears to be a bowl of sliced apples away from the crying boy.  
  
“Connor is a meanie! Those apples are mine!”  
  
Desmond sighed and rubbed the crying boy’s back, “Now, Ezio, the apple slices are to be shared with everyone. Just because I gave it to Connor, doesn’t mean it’s his. Now, what is this really all about? I know it’s not just the apples because you just ate.”  
  
Desmond was very patient as Ezio slowly calmed down, tears fading to small sniffles. Desmond wiped the tear stains from his face and made him blow his nose with a hankie.  
  
Ezio sniffed once more and said quietly, “Is your papa coming here?”. Desmond stopped wiping the boy’s face . . . then continued once again. “Yeah . . . Yeah he is.”  
  
To the surprise of everyone, including little Connor who was trying to keep the bowl of apple slices away from the twins, Ezio shouted, “ ** _NO_ ** ! I don’t want the bad man coming here!”. Ezio started crying again, harder than before, and clung to Desmond as if his life depended on it.  
  
Desmond looked troubled. “Ezio, he’s my father. He’s not a bad man”  
  
“You only say that because he’s your papa!” sobbed Ezio. “Papas don’t do what he did to you, or to Clay and Daniel!”  
  
Everything stilled, and Lucy, Rebecca, and Shaun, in the next room but still able to hear, stopped what they were doing in horror. Bill kept silent, watching this exchange.  
  
Desmond tilted his head. He had no recollection of having siblings, and back at… the Farm… he didn’t remember anyone named Clay or Daniel.  
  
Desmond asked Ezio kindly, “Who are they?”. 

They were interrupted by upset squeaks from the twins. Bill looked over and saw the girl staring at him with wide eyes. She was holding a bunch of apple slices. The boy next to her got in front of his sister and glared at Bill.  
  
When Bill looked up again, Desmond stood up holding a terrified Ezio, surrounded by the children, two of the older ones forming a barrier around Desmond. Any scalding words died in his throat seeing literal children either afraid of him or angrily protecting Desmond . . . from him.  
  
The silence stretched between them until Desmond gave his father a tentative smile. “Hi Dad.”  
  
Bill could only nod and say, “Hello, son.”  
  
Desmond looked at the children flocking to his side, including the twins who scurried towards him the moment Bill took his eyes off them.  
  
He had only been with them for a week, but in that week he had learned enough about them to know they were capable of enough mischief to turn anyone’s hair white in an hour. 

Desmond grinned. He then glanced at the kids knowingly and said, “Perfect timing, you can help out. It’s the kids’ bath time”.

* * *

Of all the idiotic things Desmond had done, _ this _ was the most stupid, Shaun thought. And he roped ** _ Bill _ ** of all people into it!  
  
Getting the kids to do anything was an art form that only Desmond seemed to have perfected. Except for bath time. The first time they tried it was a disaster, so he had no idea just _ why _ Desmond suggested giving the children a bath.  
  
Contrary to what the others said, Shaun was not insensitive to people’s feelings, and he knew the kids disliked Bill. A _ lot _ . Ezio had thrown a fit and the other kids all agreed with him when they found out, but they won’t tell why or how they know about Bill until Ezio’s little outburst earlier.  
  
He didn’t know if the kids being quiet and surly at bath time would be worse than them raising holy hell, but being around the kids for a week, he’d prefer the latter. It would be so awkward and eerie if they were quiet.  
  
He was answered when he entered the room and was instantly splashed.  
  
“FOR GOODNESS SAKE SHAUN, GRAB THE TWINS!” bellowed Lucy as she lunged for Evie and Jacob, who were hollering their little lungs out. 

Shaun grabbed a twin in each arm, wincing as they screeched, "NOOO!" and "DON'T WANNA BATH!"

Shaun sighed and pleaded, "Evie, Jacob, _ please. _ Bathing is good for you, I swear.”  
  
Simultaneous screams of “NO!” answered him, but Shaun still stood up and headed toward the inflatable pools being used as a bathing area.  
  
Rebecca and Lucy were busy with the other children. Lucy, after seeing Shaun handle the twins, set her sights on trying to stop Connor from wriggling out of her grasp. Connor and Edward seemed helpful within the pool, but Connor was intent on drenching Lucy and escaping.  
  
Rebecca and Desmond were helping Altair bathe as Ezio, aided by floaties,circled around them giggling. Bill, not really knowing what to do, was tasked with bathing the quiet ones. Shay already had his turn, but was now glaring at Bill as he gave a mostly quiet Arno a gentle bath. Aveline, also done courtesy of Lucy, wandered over and was watching Bill work.  
  
Aveline smiled at Bill, “Hello, Mentor.”  
  
Bill gave her a glance then turned Arno over, supporting his head and making sure he did not ingest the water before answering, “Mademoiselle de Grandpere.”  
  
“Arno is comfortable, although Shay would say otherwise,” she tilted her little head.  
  
Bill nodded, “You’re a bit different. You don’t act or speak like a child.”  
  
Aveline giggled, “I am a child, silly goose! I just retained my memories much clearer than the others. When I grow older, I will lose my memories to make way for the new ones with Desmond, and I will act my age then.”  
  
At this, Bill’s head snapped to face her, “Why are all of you here?”

Aveline smiled mysteriously, “For your son, Mister Miles. One of the greatest men we have ever encountered.”  
  
Bill looked down when he felt a pat on his arm. Arno was looking at him. Arno then said quietly, “Papa” and pointed to Desmond.  
  
Bill’s mouth thinned. He really does not know what to think of that.

* * *

“I need to talk to you, Desmond.”  
  
“I know.”  
  
“In _ private _ ,” Bill insisted.  
  
Desmond just stared at him for a moment, then looked down at the armful of children napping on his arms and legs, then looked back at his father with a cocked brow.  
  
“I can’t, and I won’t. Just get it over with Dad.”  
  
Bill glared at Desmond, “You can’t keep them.”  
  
“Tough luck. They’re staying, and even if I can’t keep them I’m not leaving them to Abstergo.”  
  
“We are days from the end of the world and we need you to be focused. You cannot have these _ distractions _ bothering you.”  
  
“I know I’m just a means to an end to you Dad, but let me fucking rest,” Desmond spat out bitterly. “I’ll get to the Animus soon but the children need my help and I swore I would help them”. Bill reeled at this. Is this how Desmond thought he saw him as?

Before they can say anything though, they hear a quiet voice, “We don’t want him in that chair. You can ask us where we put the Apple, we’ll even give our blood to use in the Animus, but don’t put him back in the chair.”  
  
It was Altair and he was looking at them both. “Don’t do to your son what you did to my other descendant. _ Please _ .”  
  
Bill closed his eyes and looked away. Altair was staring at Bill intensely.  
  
Desmond quietly asked, “Dad? Who are Daniel and Clay?”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some answers are given.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go! we're getting the plot rolling!!!

Bill opened the files on all the children and started reading through them again, trying to find out more information about them.  
  
“Dad?”  
  
He sighed then looked at Desmond. He was in a sweatshirt and for once, he was not surrounded by a gaggle of children.  
  
“They’re eating dinner. I thought you might want some privacy”.  
  
“ . . . Yes. I do”  
  
“Now that we’re alone, can you answer my question? Who are Clay and Daniel?”  
  
Bill turned to the computer screens to bring up Altair, Ezio, and surprisingly, Connor. Then he brings up the others. Desmond has already seen these files. He looked at the pictures of the older Haytham and Shay and Aveline. 

He then brings up two unknown files, “Subject 4 and 16. Daniel Cross and Clay Kaczmarek. They were both former assassins.”  
  
“Former?” Desmond touches the screen. Clay looked so familiar, like something he’s seen in the periphery of his vision inside the Animus but he cannot remember.  
  
“Daniel Cross . . . was a former Assassin who was experimented on by the Templars and turned into their sleeper agent. He is the reason why we there are so few of us left today.”  
  
Desmond inspected Daniel’s file. “He massacred the Assassins.” Bill nodded. He then pointed at Clay. “Clay Kaczmarek was the subject before you in the Animus. Contact with him became sporadic and then stopped. When they took you, we assumed the worst and the Templars had found a replacement.”  
  
“That’s a lie, Bill. Tell him the truth”  
  
The two men turned to see Lucy by the doorway, enraged.  
  
“Tell him how I messaged you and told you it wasn’t safe, and to pull Clay out of the project. Tell him how you _ insisted _ he continue until his brain couldn’t take it anymore. Tell him how he started carving up his arms and painting the walls with his blood. They took him away and we never saw him again.”  
  
Lucy had angry tears staining her cheeks.  
  
Desmond looked at his father, ”Dad?”. Bill looked away. Desmond tried again, “Dad. Is this true? And what about Daniel?”  
  
Bill sighed. “Yes. Yes, it is.'' He then noticed a shadow in the doorway behind Lucy. Seems like they had a little listener. “I will admit I also did not see the signs of Daniel being brainwashed, but during that time who did?”  
  
Desmond seems to have noticed their little listener too. “It’s nice to know you treat people under your care the same way you treated me. We’ll continue this later. '' Bill looked like he was slapped. He stared after his son, who reached the doorway and kneeled to hug the twins and Altair.

* * *

“Don’t like him,” mumbled Jacob. Evie nodded solemnly, “He’s very much like our father”. 

  
Desmond smiled while making the twins a late-night snack. “He’s still _ my _ father”.  
  
“Doesn’t justify what he’s doing, or what he did to you,” muttered Altair. He was next to the twins on the counter, swinging his legs and hitting his ankles on the wooden panels loudly.  
  
Desmond cheerily said, “I agree. But thanks to you guys, I’m tired of running away from my problems. And showing Dad the extent of the damage he caused is a good thing.”   
  
He gave each twin and Altair a sandwich.  
  
“What’s done is done. It’s bedtime guys.”

* * *

  
  
Bill watched as his son managed to surprise him once again. The children piled next to Desmond, and he let them.  
  
Lucy stood next to Bill, and they quietly observed Desmond settling the children into their designated places next to him.  
  
“You should have seen them the first night,” Lucy said in a hushed tone. “We worried about where the kids would sleep, but the only place where they wanted to stay was with Desmond. They’ve been like that ever since”.  
  
Bill said nothing. Lucy sighed. “I have never seen Desmond genuinely smile until the kids came into our lives. It looks like they’re not going anywhere. I know we want to solve the mystery of where they’re from, but please don’t ruin it for him, Bill”.  
  
Lucy then turned and left. Bill stayed where he was, watching as Desmond addressed the kids, “Alright, guys. What story do you want to hear tonight?”  
  
“Can we hear about the little boy living in this village, and they were monks, and one day this old monk from another village comes to their village bringing this really beautiful book with pages in gold, and there is a white cat and a faerie?” Ezio asked all in one breath. Altair yawned beside him.

  
“I want the one with the boy who lived in the stars with his mom, and then one day pirates disturb their lives! Haytham liked that one as well!” Edward said nodding. Haytham’s face went red and he sputtered, “I only can relate because his dad left!”. Connor’s chubby little hand patted Edward’s crestfallen face.  
  
“I liked Sophie, and the moving castle, and her wizard,” Evie said quietly, “She was so brave and strong when she thought she wasn’t.” Jacob piped up next to her, “I liked that one too! I was kinda scared of those blob monsters, but in the end no one is actually a bad person! Sophie is awesome!”.  
  
Desmond laughed. “Guys, we literally just watched those movies!”. The miracle of introducing 21st-century television to children from other eras and seeing their reactions was amazing.  
  
Aveline smiled at him, Shay’s head already drooping on her shoulders, but little Arno was sucking his thumb waiting. “We want to hear it in your words”.  
  
Desmond thought about it. He remembered a story Bill once told him. Not in this kind of context, in the bedroom exchanging stories. Bill was distant even then . . . but he told Desmond stories when Desmond was upset. That small act of kindness made Desmond hesitate in calling his father a truly bad person.  
  
“How about I tell you one of my favorite stories from when I was a kid?”  
  
A chorus of yesses sounded and Desmond smiled at their eager little faces. “I want to tell you a story about a demon, and an angel, and the family they found along the way. It was a nice day. All of the days had been nice. There had been rather more than seven of them so far, and rain hadn't been invented yet. But clouds massing east of Eden suggested that the first thunderstorm was on its way, and it was going to be a big one . . .” 

* * *

“I’ve decided,” Desmond began as they started breakfast.  
  
The kids were doing their own thing in the spaces they carved for themselves. Haytham had seated himself next to Lucy, the twins took their place on both sides of Shaun, Rebecca was seated next to Edward and Aveline, Arno, dear sweetheart that he is, toddled over to Bill and situated himself on his lap, and wherever Arno is, Shay is close by. At the moment, he is begrudgingly eating his cereal and suspiciously looking at Bill, who was feeding Arno.  
  
Desmond began again, carefully making sure Ezio doesn't reach too far on the table to get the food he wanted and Connor and Altair were comfortable.

“Let’s find out more about Daniel and Clay. I want to go back to Abstergo” 

Chaos reigned the minute he uttered that statement. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I also referenced a few stories! Feel free to name them in the comments! But I can say this, This will NOT be the last time I'll reference Good Omens :))
> 
> Thank you so much for the love and enthusiasm in the comments! I really appreciate it


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And now for someone completely different!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spaced here! Thank you so, so much for supporting this brain fart. Please expect a lot of children shenanigans even if things are heavy. These are the Templars I think would totally be entrusted with them.
> 
> TW: signs of depression and that a toddler is the one acting like an adult when he shouldn't be.

Daniel woke up.  
  
Every day, it gets harder to wake up. Every day he sees his ancestors in the periphery of his vision, hear echoes of their voices, all thanks to the bleeding effect. 

Daniel got up from his bed . . . and tripped on a pile of discarded laundry. He gritted his teeth. _ Goddamit _ that hurt! He stood up and was taking clean clothes out of his drawer when he heard a sound coming from his kitchen. He stopped. He slowly took the nearest weapon, his gun, and quietly walked over.  
  
Daniel blinked. Then he rubbed his eyes at the sight that met him.  
  
A toddler, probably five or six years of age, was standing on the counter rummaging around his kitchen drawers. The toddler came down carrying a can of chunky tomato soup in both their hands then noticed Daniel. The toddler stared, looked down at the can of tomatoes, and then gave Daniel the most unimpressed look they can give him. _ “Why is this the only thing in your pantry?” _ , the little face said.  
  
And the funny thing is, Daniel knows who this is.

This is his ancestor, Nikolai Andreyevich "Kolya" Orelov. He is 100 percent sure this is him, in the flesh. He had lived his life before and he knows how Nikolai looked like as a child. 

Nikolai continued his silent judgment of Daniel. Daniel did not know how to address this absurd situation, so he did what he does best. He pretended the problem didn’t exist.

Daniel picked up the can of tomato soup from Nikolai’s little hands and then picked what he considered the cleanest pot from his growing mound of dishes. Nikolai made disapproving noises but what can a hallucination do? 

He cut up onions and garlic, simmered them, and when they were good enough he dumped the contents of the can into the pot. A tiny hand held out the salt and pepper shakers. Daniel narrowed his eyes at the hallucination then grabbed the spices and mumbled, “Unnecessarily demanding today for a hallucination. He even wants me to be fancy with all the extra spices as if I can afford it.” 

To Daniel’s dismay, of course, the end result tasted good. He even put out an extra bowl for the imaginary toddler. Then he gathered the dishes and went to bed again. 

* * *

Daniel woke up again hours later. 

There is a shuffling in his bedroom, and he shot up, once again ready with his gun.  
  
Little Nikolai was pushing the piles of clothes to a laundry basket Daniel did not know he had.  
  
“Oy, stop that shit. I can’t find anything if you do that”.  
  
The toddler looked at him, once again unimpressed, then went right back to cleaning. He growled and stood up from his bed to grab the laundry basket from Nikolai.  
  
“I can clean up if I want.”  
  
The toddler continued staring. Daniel stood up, went out of his room and stopped. The living room was clean, the kitchen was immaculate. No dirty dishes, no piles of litter, nothing. He hears a sweeping sound and he turned to see Nikolai balancing a too tall broom in his too-small hands, sweeping the floor, and that was it for Daniel.  
  
“Fine. I get it. Let’s go do my groceries”

* * *

Daniel still doesn’t know how to feel about his bleeding effect hallucination turning up, but … the voices in his head are quieter with the miniature version of his great-grandfather here. At the moment, Nikolai was staring wide-eyed out the window as he drove the car. It did not occur to him what his ancestor’s reaction would be to modern life.  
  
“Hey, uh … wear your seatbelt,” he tells Nikolai. Which is stupid because the toddler isn’t real.  
  
The toddler stared at him, and when Nikolai realized what Daniel was referring to he grabbed the seatbelt and tried pulling it to mimic Daniel’s seatbelt. Daniel sighed, “Here.” Daniel pulls the seatbelt safe and snug over Nikolai. The toddler wiggled his feet, the first sign of excitement Daniel had seen from Nikolai.

It took them twenty minutes to finally get to a grocery store.

* * *

Daniel made a discovery that Nikolai was a very good companion when it comes to shopping for necessities. 

Daniel was carrying Nikolai and the toddler pointed out things that he usually wouldn’t buy for himself. Fruits and vegetables and spices and all kinds of doodads. He put them in the shopping cart. Then Nikolai pointed to clothes and Daniel thought, what the hell, he might as well get clothes and bathroom necessities for his imaginary guest.

When they reached the register, the cashier took one look at Daniel’s cart and then, to his surprise, at Nikolai and said, “Do you want me to put all these in an eco bag so you can keep holding your son?”

  
Daniel blinked at them. “You . . . you can see him?”.  
  
The cashier looked at him like he had lost a few marbles, and to be fair he thought so too, then they said amused, “Oh! Oh! He’s playing hide and seek! Well then, I can’t see him.”  
  
Nikolai is hiding his face with his hands in a bizarre peek-a-boo with the cashier. _ Ah. _

So his ancestor is actually here with him. He thanked the cashier, grabbed their groceries, and went home. 

* * *

Daniel spent the next day pondering what to do next with his ancestor. Nikolai had managed to make sure he did not fall back into old habits and Daniel did not have the heart to get mad at the toddler. Still, when Nikolai wasn’t watching he would sneak a drink from his secret stash.  
  
He made space in his bed for Nikolai, the boy curling up next to him to sleep and Daniel had a soft toy for Nikolai to play with, although he seemed intent on using the plush bird as a projectile.

Now that he knows that Nikolai is flesh and blood, he’d have to take him to work. Daniel had no one he trusted enough to watch over the boy.  
  
He sighed and rubbed his face. He was not looking forward to facing Vidic and explaining the situation.

* * *

As it turned out, Daniel was not the only one graced with tiny visitors.

  
Daniel walked into Abstergo carrying an observant Nikolai. Some of the other employees stared at his cargo but a vicious glare and they quickly looked away. 

That is until a woman from the Entertainment Division of Abstergo bumped into him.  
  
Normally, Melanie Lemay’s optimistic and chipper attitude irritated him. Which is why it was concerning when she seemed frazzled beyond belief.  
  
“What’s up with you?”  
  
“Oh! Master . . . I mean Mr. Cross! It’s nothing! I--,” then her eyes widened when they fell on Nikolai. “Oh my god, one escaped …”

To his utter surprise, she raised her hands and sighed, “I-I’ll take him, thank you Sir.”  
  
Daniel leaned Nikolai away from her even though Nikolai opened his arms to try reaching for Melanie. “No thanks. Nikolai is with me. And what the hell do you mean by one escaped?”  
  
Melanie paled, “He- he came with you? Did he appear from nowhere?”. Daniel blinked. That was a very specific question.  
  
“No,” Daniel said slowly, “He’s with me. Explain what you meant Melanie.”  
  
Melanie wrung her hands, “Oh--- of course. Silly me! It’s not as if a bunch of pirates from the Golden age of Piracy appeared to you as toddlers and have started wreaking havoc in the building. What was I thinking? Hahaha!”  
  
Daniel grabbed Melanie’s arm and hauled her to a more private area. “Repeat what you just told me. You said toddlers appeared from nowhere and are starting to wreak havoc in the building? Do you know how _ridiculous_ you sound?”  
  
Nikolai made an upset noise and tried to loosen Daniel’s grip on Melanie’s arm. Daniel does so. It’s annoying how the toddler is affecting him so.  
  
Melanie rubbed her arm and looked down, “I know sir, but it’s the truth! I-”  
  
“I believe you. And this is why you shouldn’t be saying this to anyone else”. 

Melanie blinked at what Daniel said.  
  
“I agree. Keep it to yourself for now, Ms. Lemay.”  
  
Daniel and Melanie turned to face Juhani Otso Berg, a fearsome Templar from the Operations Division and a former student of Daniel’s. 

Berg was known for his ruthlessness in the field . . . which is why the sight of him carrying and holding hands with children is a juxtaposition the two of them never thought they’d see.  
  
“Master Cross, Ms. Lemay, this is my daughter Elina,” Berg gestured to the baby snuggled in his arm. She gave a little wave and babbled. He then gestured to the eight-year-old with dark hair holding hands with two little girls about five years old in age. “And this is Grand Master Crawford Starrick, with Miss Lucy Thorne and Miss Pearl Attaway.”  
  
Melanie’s eyes bulged and she muttered, “Oh god, not _ more _ of them!”  
  
Daniel tilted his head and then looked down at Nikolai. Nikolai waved and to his surprise, the two little girls waved back and Crawford nodded his head in acknowledgment. 

The children knew something, they seemed to recognize each other.  
  
Berg seemed satisfied by what he saw between the children then he locked eyes with Daniel, “I am thinking that you have the same reason as I, Master Cross, for bringing that child here. I did not have a babysitter at hand.”  
  
Daniel nodded. Melanie rubbed her face, “So . . . what do we do now?”  
  
Daniel looked at all the children. They were staring at him, and apparently there were more ancestors running loose around the building. 

Daniel then felt Nikolai pat his cheek. He sighed. “We get to the bottom of this. But whatever happens, we do not let Warren Vidic know about the children.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Daniel is, from what I can tell as I am writing this, depressed and Nikolai is a hypercompetent toddler.
> 
> Can't wait to write more of their duo. And imagine baby Mary/James, Anne, Ben, Adewale, Thatch, and more running around terrorizing the Abstergo office because reasons.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More children, more chaos in Abstergo. More uwus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're at the home stretch now folks and we're nearing the end of the first arc, hence the longe chapter. Now read on as the chaos unfolds.

While Desmond expected outbursts of dissent from his teammates and father, he did not expect the outbursts from the kids;

“We wanna go too!”  
“Yay! Desmond is gonna take us on a trip!”  
“Are we gonna teach the bad men a lesson?”  
  
Desmond blinked at the clamoring little voices then looked over to Haytham and Aveline, the de facto voices of reason with the kids. Haytham looked like he wanted to protest but decided against it. Aveline just smiled and said, “We’ll get our coats.”  
  
Desmond laughed, “And what makes you think I’m bringing you all on this highly dangerous mission?”  
  
Aveline tilted her little head, “The others are in Abstergo.”  
  
Lucy coughed out her coffee. “I’m sorry _ WHAT? _” When other little heads nodded enthusiastically, Rebecca rushed over the monitors to look at the cameras they installed in Abstergo and lo and behold, there were suspiciously-not-from-this-era children running around. Some of them were not even hiding, some were mingling and interacting with very confused Abstergo employees. There was a tired-looking woman rounding up the children, but the minute she turned her back on them, a few escaped her clutches. 

Edward laughed, “HA! Haythie, look! Those are your uncles and aunts! I turned out older than them!” He giggled while Haytham rolled his eyes and Connor stole a bread roll from Edward’s plate as he was gloating.

Desmond watched this play out and noticed a little one at the corner of the cameras collecting a few totems from desks. He didn’t stray too far from his minder, a very familiar-looking man who barely took his eyes off the child.  
  
“That’s Daniel Cross,” Bill said quietly. He was carrying Arno and Shay in his arms. “That little one he is watching over must be one of his ancestors.”  
  
To the surprise of Bill and Desmond, it was Shay who pointed at the boy and said, “That’s Nikolai Orelov.”  
  
Desmond nodded and ruffled Shay’s hair. The boy squeaked in dismay. “Thanks, buddy! I’ll look up who he is and who the others are okay?”

Desmond went over to Rebecca and Shaun’s side and joined in their amusement at the number of confused Assassins around the world accessing this footage online and seeing literal toddlers do their work for them.   
  
Bill sighed and sat down, releasing Shay and Arno. He heard Evie complain as she toddled past, “I don’t wanna stay here anymore! I wanna go with Desmond to Abstergo! Thorne and Henry could be there!” She pouted.  
  
Bill looked over at Shay who was watching over Arno playing with his toes. He came to a decision.  
  
“Ms. Frye, do you want to go on a trip to the local museum?”

* * *

Bill recognized the signs that some of the kids were becoming restless; that’s why he offered the museum trip. Currently, he was in a car driving to said museum with Shaun in the passenger seat holding Arno, who was playing with his toes once again, and Shay overlooking the window. Haytham and the twins were glaring at him in the backseat but he paid them no mind. 

Lucy was right, he had never seen Desmond happier. He was considered the runt on the farm, and it annoyed Bill that other children excelled when his own was subpar.  
  
And yet … and yet … all these Master Assassins and Grand Masters of the Templar Order looked up to Desmond and fawned over him. It made him uneasy. It’s as if they all knew something he didn’t. That something bad would happen to Desmond to warrant that amount of admiration.  
  
He knows what the children all think of him, they had made it very clear the whole time he was around them. It shouldn’t affect him so but . . . he can’t help that it stings.  
  
If Desmond ever had children, would this be his own grandchildren’s reaction to him? That they either did not know he existed, because Desmond refused to talk about him or that Desmond did talk about him and they hated him?  
  
It scared him.  
  
He looked at little Arno again, sucking his thumb and staring at him. He sighed and parked their car, then gently removed Arno’s thumb from his mouth.  
  
He took Arno from Shaun with a slight protest from Shay then he looked over the back seat.  
  
“We’re here, kids.”

* * *

Bill carried Arno in and was holding hands with Shay as the kids took in their new environment.

Originally, none of the kids, save Arno, took his request. But Desmond noticed Evie hesitating, so he asked Shaun if he’d be okay in taking the twins with Bill to go sightseeing. Haytham joined in because the boy was bored.

Haytham was holding hands with Evie and Jacob and the twins were pointing out exhibits they all found really interesting, dragging the not too unwilling boy forward with them. Shaun, walking behind them, would sometimes lift Evie if a plaque was too high for her to read.  
  
Shay just generally went where Bill would walk but every now and then, he would lightly tug his hand to wander over something that interested him. Bill took that as a win.

There was a bayonet exhibit and Shay’s eyes widened at those.  
  
“You were a superb marksman, weren’t you Master Cormac?”  
  
Shay hummed and made a so-so gesture. Cheeky brat. Before Bill could say anything, he felt someone watching him. 

There was a man holding the hand of an eight-year-old girl and carrying a little girl with flaming red hair the same age as Arno observing them. One of the girls giggled and pointed at them. Bill narrowed his eyes and put Shay behind him as the mystery man strode forward. When they were near, the man stopped in front of Bill but his eyes landed on Shay. Shay shuffled quietly in place and Bill moved his arm to push Shay behind him even further. 

“Mentor William Miles. I hope you don’t mind, but I will have to take you into custody”

Bill’s eyebrow cocked upwards, especially when the little girl pouted and said, “No fighting!” The man just smiled at her and the older girl grinned. Bill noticed the horrified look of Shaun from across the room and he shook his head. _ Don’t compromise the kids. _   
  
“I don’t usually go on dates with people I just met,” Bill said out loud. “Especially with someone who hasn’t introduced himself.”  
  
The man snorted. The older girl laughed and clapped her hands. He adjusted the younger girl in his hold. 

“My name is Juhani Otso Berg,” he gestured to the eight-year-old. “This is Master Madeleine de L’isle.” The girl giggled and waved, then Juhani adjusted the girl in his arm. “And this is Mademoiselle Elise de la Serre”.  
  
Arno, who hid his face in Bill’s collar, quickly looked up and his mouth dropped when he saw Elise. Elise smiled and gave a little wave. Shay made an upset noise behind them. Bill made a mental note to check the data on the two girls.  
  
“I’ll cut to the chase, Miles. I can offer you a deal. The girls, for you and Master Cormac.”  
  
Bill looked behind him to check if Shay was still there and the boy instantly hid his face when his name was mentioned. Bill narrowed his eyes at the man.  
  
“Take me, but all the kids are staying”  
  
Berg raised his eyebrows. “Who do you think is protecting all the children from harm in Abstergo?”  
  
Bill looked at Madeleine then at Elise, then at Arno. “Why them, and not Shay?” To his surprise, Berg shrugged, turned to Madeleine and the girl said, “All according to plan, Mentor! I relay the plan to-”, she then turned and gave a smirk to Haytham who scowled at her, “Grand Master Kenway. I believe your son and my daughter, Aveline, are there too?”   
  
Bill said nothing. Elise wiggled in Juhani’s grasp. Madeleine continued, “You will be fine, Mentor. For all your sins, your son still turned into a good man, and he will not leave you to suffer. I suggest we let this all play out and go with Master Berg. After all, we still need to get the others to the Grand Temple.”  
  
Berg keeps quiet as Bill glared at her. So the kids all know where they are. Does that mean Abstergo knows? By Berg’s reaction, they don’t. It seems the children know what they are doing and pulling the strings . . . but for what? What is going on?  
  
Arno patted his cheek and Bill comes to a decision at the same time as Berg. Berg leaned down to deposit Elise next to Madeleine. Elise clung to Madeleine’s skirts as Bill does the same and put Arno in Madeleine’s outstretched arms.

Arno, realizing what was going on, made a face and began to tear up. Shay ran toward the kids and tried tugging Arno from Madeleine’s arms but he was too short. The older girl frowned. “Shay, you have to go to the others, you’re needed over there. We’ve been through this and it’s only temporary. You can come back for Arno later.”  
  
Shay shook his head and tugged at her arms harder. He looked like he was about to cry. Bill shrugged at Berg’s questioning look and said, “Shay and Arno are close.”  
  
Berg nodded in understanding. He kneeled in front of Shay and said gently, “It is alright, Master Cormac. On my oath, I will protect you. I understand wanting to stay and be with the people we love. This is why we do our duty, to make this world a little safer for them. The faster you complete your mission, the faster you get to reunite with Master Dorian.”  
  
Shay stopped tugging Madeleine’s arms. Then, after what felt like an eternity, he sadly let go. Arno began to cry. Elise reached out on tiptoe to pat his leg.  
  
Bill suddenly felt sorry for Shay and Arno. He reached out to Arno to stroke his little head and the baby quieted down. Then he kneeled to pick up Shay. The boy resignedly put his arms around Bill’s neck and buried his face in Bill’s shoulder.  
  
Bill then turned and nodded to Berg. “We’re ready. Lead the way.” Berg nodded back and then bowed slightly to Madeleine, Arno, and Elise. “Good luck, Master de L’isle. We will meet again before the intended date.”  
  
Madeleine grinned, “Come to the Grand Temple by then with the people you can trust, Master Berg. May the Father of Understanding Guide You”  
  
Berg led Bill and Shay away from Madeleine, who stood in the middle of the room all by herself.  
  
After a minute, Haytham, who Shaun was unable to stop, rushed to Madeleine and grabbed her arm. She gave him an amused, “Grand Master Kenway, what a surprise.”  
  
“What do you think you’re doing De L’isle?” Haytham released her arm and instead bent to pick up Elise who was trying to climb Madeleine to get to a very sad looking Arno.  
  
Madeleine tilted her head but rubbed Arno’s back. “Improvising. Now it’s up to Shay and the others. Don’t you trust them? Don’t you trust Shay?”  
  
Haytham glared at her and growled, “If _ anything _ happens to Shay, I will personally end you.”  
  
Madeline giggled but stayed silent. Shaun finally caught up to them. “Can anyone please tell me what is going on?”  
  
Evie and Jacob clung to both his legs and looked between Haytham and Madeleine. The older girl smiled at Shaun.  
  
“All in due time my dear friend. For now, we leave it to our colleagues.”

* * *

“I _ can’t _ do this anymore!” 

Melanie collapsed in exhaustion on a chair. The children were running around the offices again and she had spent hours catching them. At least none of them seemed intent on leaving the building, and a few of them even made friends with some of the few Abstergo employees around. It’s as if they were waiting for something . . . or someone.  
  
Strangely, the children were very careful in revealing who they are to whom, and for every hour that passed, a new child popped up from nowhere and it was her job to watch over the growing amount of children.  
  
Violet De Costa deposited another batch of children in front of her.  
  
“That’s everyone, I think,” the young woman said, amused. Melanie looked over and counted the children; most were Templars, a few neutrals, and very few were Assassins.  
  
“Wait, where’s Max and Yusuf?” Melanie asked in alarm. Those two were worse than the West Indies children who, for the past week, had been going around the Entertainment Division and pointing out the many errors in their “game” to baffled animators and techies, which they had started assembling from Desmond Miles’s DNA. 

A young woman busted in heaving and carrying two protesting children about seven years of age. 

“Here they are! _ Please, _ take them!” Layla Hassan, from the Research and Development Division, placed two boys on the floor and held them when they tried to escape. “I caught these two twerps holding each other up and fiddling with a number pad downstairs in the bunker.”  
  
With these two hellions, they were most likely planning to blow up a door … again.

Yusuf Tazim pouted and said, “Clay’s in there. We wanna go to him! We felt another one of us appear inside too.”  
  
Violet and Melanie froze while Layla frowned. “Who?” she asked.  
  
“Layla, please get Master Cross, and hurry,” ordered Melanie. 

When Layla was out of the room, Violet whirled to Melanie and hissed, “I was told Subject 16 was _dead _when they gave me his case files.”   
  
The children all stopped playing to listen in on this conversation. 

Melanie grit her teeth and clenched her fists. “I was told so too.” It was a gruesome case, and though she did not know the details she was told Subject 16 had lost his mind before dying. 

One of the children stood up and walked towards the two women and said, “They must have also told the two of you that they were all willing Subjects. Were you both naive enough to believe that?” It was a boy, who looked to be almost 13. He was the oldest of the children.  
  
Violet turned to Melanie and gestured her head toward the boy. “Who’s he and how the hell does he know about the Project?”  
  
Melanie pursed her lips and glared at him, Grand Master Laureano de Torres y Ayala of the West Indies Rite. He appeared, strangely enough, with his rival, Mentor Ah Tabai, who looked to be a year or two younger than him. The teen grinned at Melanie, knowing she was struggling to come up with a lie to their fellow Templar.

Before she can answer, Berg walked through the doors with William Miles, carrying another child in tow. 

And just like that, chaos reigned. 

* * *

Clay is dead. 

Well, _ technically, _ he is clinically dead.  
  
Sure he has a faint heartbeat and his body is being preserved in this weird looking Animus but his brain function isn’t there anymore. Instead, it’s somewhere else. 

Clay considered himself to be a fucking genius and anarchist. So he uploaded his consciousness into the machine that made his life hell for _months_. In his opinion, it was the best and worst idea he ever had. 

For starters, he sometimes wondered if he was a new person or being and the real Clay Kaczmarek was dead and gone forever. It bummed him out most days, but today, right here, in the year of Our Lord 2012, Clay saw something that puzzled him.  
  
For days, children had been appearing around Abstergo Industries. Diminutive versions of great people who should have been dead. He had amusedly watched from the cameras as a tiny version of Captain Calico Jack had been sniffing markers while little Mary Read and fucking Blackbeard ran circles around the Abstergo employees trying to chase them.  
  
There were two little pyromaniacs in the growing gaggle of kids, and those two found where his body was hidden by Vidic. Nice.  
  
Now what bothered him was something they said: “There were others with Clay.”

Clay accessed the cameras that were stationed around his body, and well it seemed the kids weren’t lying.  
  
There were two little boys sleeping in his arms, one of them holding the smaller boy and mumbling in his sleep. But on the other side of his body is a little girl holding a sheathed longsword. She then looked up at the camera and Clay, to his surprise, knew who this was.  
  
Maria Thorpe, one of his goddamned ancestors. She continued staring at the cameras until the door opened and Daniel Cross entered the room carrying Nikolai. The man’s breath hitched as he took in the sight.  
  
Maria gave them a look, sighed and then turned to the two little boys and nudged them awake. “Malik. Kadar. Get up.”  
  
“How did you get in?” demanded Daniel, although he didn’t sound as angry as Clay thought he would be. Must be little Orelov’s influence, bless his tiny baby heart.  
  
Maria glared at Daniel and snapped, “Is that a way to talk to your ancestor?”  
  
Daniel sputtered out a “What?” while Nikolai looked on unimpressed. Maria ignored this and once again looked at the cameras as she patted Malik and Kadar to get up.  
  
“I’m up, I’m up,” grumbled the elder boy. Maria then moved aside as Daniel came forward to observe Clay’s body.  
  
“They told me they cremated him,” he said to no one in particular. Malik snorted. Clay did not know how to react to that. Daniel put Nikolai down next to Maria, and the Al-Sayf brothers. 

Daniel, to Clay and the children’s surprise, typed something in the Animus monitoring Clay turning it off, and then gently lifted his body.  
  
Maria, Nikolai, and the Al-Sayf boys followed Daniel out of the room as alarms simultaneously blared throughout the building. Curious to see what they were up to, Clay followed them.

* * *

“Is Desmond with you? Is he? Is he?”  
“Are we gonna go to Desmond now?”  
“Hi, Shay! Are the others okay? Where’s Arno?”  
“Shay, come play with us!”  
  
It was chaos as the children all crowded around Berg and Miles. Berg chuckled and kneeled to greet some of them. Miles was confused but followed suit and let Shay down to greet the little ones all clamoring for their attention. 

Shay looked confused at the number of children that greeted him, refusing to let go of Miles, until one of the older children asked, “Shay, is it time? And is the Apple with Desmond?” 

Shay nodded his head. The boy looked at the eldest child who nodded as well.  
  
That was when three things happen simultaneously: alarms blared in the building, Daniel entered carrying Clay’s body (prompting indignant and horrified gasps from the children), and then Vidic slams the door open, takes in the scene, and demands, “What the FUCK is all of this?”

* * *

Shaun parked the van, then looked to Desmond in the passenger seat. “This is insane. We are going on the words of literal children.”  
  
Desmond stared at the Apple in his hands. Earlier, when Shaun came back to base and explained the situation, Madeleine took out an artifact called The Prophecy Disk and explained Desmond had to get his father and the other kids so they could all go to the Grand Temple. She gave his Apple a dirty look.  
  
Desmond definitely understands how she feels. “Well, no way of knowing what’s gonna happen until we do it, yeah? See you later, Shaun.” Shaun nodded, and Desmond got out.  
  
Desmond entered the front doors of Abstergo and the alarms start blaring at him. The Apple glowed ominously. Desmond thought to himself, _ “I don’t want to accidentally hurt any of the kids” _ , and so he kept walking.  
  
None of the guards stopped him. In fact, they just looked around confused wondering why the alarms were going crazy.  
  
Desmond let his legs and instincts guide him to where he felt he needed to go. The Apple thrummed with power, but Desmond had a feeling that Altair, Ezio, and Connor had all done something to it to make it behave this way. It was listening to his wishes.  
  
Finally, Desmond entered a room on the first floor and was dumbfounded at the scene unfolding before him. 

* * *

“Well? I’m _ waiting _ !”  
  
Melanie, Berg, Daniel, Violet, and Layla, who had stumbled in carrying a wayward child, all stayed silent. Bill, surrounded by children, ignored Vidic as he quietly corralled the children away from the man’s sight.  
  
The absurdity of the situation was not lost on Vidic but seeing Clay in Daniel’s arms, the Mentor of the Assassin Order here, AND children running around was enough to make Vidic snap. He turned to Daniel and said, “What do you think you’re doing? Put 16 back!”  
  
One of the children snorted and said, “Nah mate, we’re keeping Clay. You had him long enough, thanks.”  
  
Violet turned to glare at Vidic. “You said he was _ dead _ !” Vidic pinched the bridge of his nose. “He is as good as dead, De Costa. He is a vegetable. The only reason we are keeping his sorry carcass is we need his DNA as back up for Subject 17.”  
  
“That’s a fate worse than death, the poor bastard,” Violet exclaimed horrified. One of the kids, a little dark-skinned boy quietly said, “Please don’t take any more blood from Clay. We can just give some of ours.” The kids around him protested at this, and one of them gets in front of the boy, “Henry! Keep quiet!”  
  
“Who are these children?” Vidic demanded, once again. He then sees a little girl with a longsword and his eyes widened. “Why does that child have a weapon?”  
  
She gave Vidic a dirty look and said, “Templars these days have truly lost their integrity if they have you leading them.”  
  
Vidic grabbed a stapler from one of the desks and then lunged for her. The eldest child calmly placed himself in front of the girl as the boy in Miles’s arms chucked a well-aimed beanie bag at his face, and Vidic tripped.  
  
Melanie, Layla, and Violet had moved the protesting and angry children behind them. Berg looked furious, “You would hurt a child, Warren? Have you no honor?”

“These little freaks are a liability! And why bother with the pretense of _honor _when our work is for the greater good? Don’t be stupid, Berg.”  
  
More than half of the kids now glared at him, like he had said something sacrilegious. A little girl with carrot hair and freckles hissed, “Then you are worse than the Assassins, and don’t deserve the name Templar.” The other angry children all nodded in agreement.

Vidic had run out of patience. His eyes snapped to Daniel as he said, “Kill them.” Daniel looked at him incredulously. 

“Did I stutter? Kill them.”  
  
Daniel locked eyes with Nikolai. Nikolai patted Daniel’s leg and waddled confidently towards Vidic. Daniel croaked, “Deda, wait! He’ll hurt you!” The toddler ignored him and continued on. 

_Deda?_ _Dedushka? Did he just call that child “grandfather”?_

Vidic glared at the little boy now in front of him. He straightened his spine to gain height over the boy. “And what can a brat like you even do, hmm? Start crying?” he taunted.

“_Nyet,_” Nikolai answered, and the boy suddenly took out a _ taser, _ comically a bit too heavy for him, and shot it directly at Vidic’s genitals.  
  
There was an unholy squeal from Vidic before the man collapsed in a dead faint. Nikolai chucked the gun straight at Vidic’s penis. Every male in the vicinity winced as the boy waddled back to Daniel, who stared at Nikolai wide-eyed. 

There was a sound of a throat clearing, and everyone turned to see Desmond Miles standing there. With the Apple in one hand and scratching his head with the other, he sheepishly asked, “So...everyone ready to get out of here?” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 100 KUDOS HOLY SHIT. Thank you all so much for the support! As a celebration, here is the link to my Discord's Ubiverse fics and there is now a category for the kid fics! YAY! Come join in and suggest ideas for future baby and kid shenanigans.
> 
> Come join the family
> 
> -Spaced


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> OOOh Spoopy plot. No rest for the wicked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Halloween loves! I've decided to word vomit this out as a big thank you!
> 
> I'd like to thank Salanalad for the suggestion of the marker sniffing. The kids totally would have done it.
> 
> -Panini
> 
> HAPPY SPOOKTIME Y'ALL. Thanks for everything guys, hope you enjoy!
> 
> -Chillin

Desmond was immediately bombarded by little ones calling his name, asking for his attention. He put away the Apple and kneeled to accept their hugs and kisses.  
  
“Haha! Slow down, slow down! Um, hi . . . I’m so sorry but I don’t know your names?” Desmond’s arms had two children each, with three more on his lap and two clinging on his back. He couldn’t stand up if he tried.  
  
“Sometimes I’m Mary, sometimes I’m James! I’ll tell you when I feel like it.” “I’m Eddie! And That’s Charlie and Jack, and over there’s Ben and Anne! And the broody one over there is Addie!” “I’m Lucy, and this is Pearl and Henry and Max and Ned! Are you gonna take us to Evie and Jacob now?” “Yusuf! And this is Fiora! Is Ezio with you? The other’s aren’t with us yet so our batch isn’t complete.” “Shut up, Assassin! Me next!” “No, it’s our turn, stupid Templar!”  
  
Many voices talked all at once, but Desmond did the impossible and listened to each of them as they introduced themselves. 

The older children stood back and watched, amused. Daniel put Clay’s body down in a chair then walked over to Vidic. Nikolai curiously toddled after him. Shay was examining Vidic’s prone form and poking it. 

Daniel arranged Vidic’s form so he didn’t look like he was humping the air, covered the man’s dignity, and then squinted at his ancestor.  
  
“You didn’t have to do that, you know. Wasn’t there any other way you could have immobilized him?”

Nikolai tilted his head thinking about it. He then reached inside his tiny coat to pull out an over-sized carving knife and made stabbing motions towards Vidic’s genitals with it.

Everyone who wasn’t Daniel inched one step away from Nikolai. Daniel muttered something in Russian, then sighed. “I see we’re gonna have to talk about this Deda. Put the knife away”. Nikolai reluctantly did so.

“That kid is scary,” gulped Layla. Melanie rolled her eyes at the boy’s antics. “He’s just overprotective of Master Cross. He threatened me with a metal spoon once when I chastised him about holding one of the kids."

Daniel’s eyes snapped up when Bill came towards them. The two stared at each other in tense silence. Then Bill turned to Shay and said, “Did you find what you were looking for?”  
  
Shay shook his head, looking over Vidic’s body. Then he spotted it. He picked up what looked like a hard drive and squinted. He then ran over to Violet, tugged her leg, held the hard drive out to her, and pointed at a computer.  
  
“Uh, I dunno what you want me to do with this,” she took it and put it in a random computer. To her surprise, Shay patted the unit and said, “Clay!”  
  
And the unit lit up.

* * *

_ “Oh, that’s **clever!** Thanks, little guy.” _

* * *

It took around ten minutes for whatever it was to finish downloading into the HD. Shay wiggled excitedly in Violet’s grasp. Then when the download was done, Violet unplugged the hard drive and the boy took it like it was something precious, then ran back to Bill to show it to him. Bill patted the boy’s head.

“Guys, I think we need to get going. So I expected a lot of you, I just didn’t expect-,” Desmond gestured to all the children. The kids laughed. “So we might need a few cars. Let’s go."  
  
“We are _not_ going anywhere with you!” Violet balked. One of the children detached from Desmond then ran to Violet before taking hold of her leg.

“Please, Miss De Costa! You have to come with us! It will be fun!” Pearl Attaway’s eyes widened in the most ridiculously cute way. 

Violet went, “Um . . . but …”  
  
Little Lucy Thorne attached herself to the other leg. “Please”. She too had ridiculously cute, pleading eyes. Violet looked down at both girls and as if on cue, Ned Wynert and Maxwell Roth joined the two little girls in grabbing on to her and copied the cute pleading schtick, and Violet looked up at Melanie helplessly. 

Melanie cocked her eyebrows and put a coat on one of the kids for an answer. She was in this with the kids for the long haul.  
  
Daniel picked up Clay’s body in response to the look Violet turned on him. Violet sighed in defeat, and Layla merely shrugged. Berg had apparently known this would happen and had taken out his keys. 

“Alright, let’s go”

* * *

They actually don’t leave right away. Berg called someone on his cellphone as the kids all say goodbye to the Abstergo employees they had both bothered and befriended. A lot of the employees actually cried at the kids leaving. Whether with joy or sadness, no one was sure.

Violet and Layla shut down their computers and locked all the data away. Melanie explained a few things to the guards, and a few of them had to smother laughs when they saw Vidic. One of them had apparently recorded Vidic getting owned by a toddler.  
  
Daniel glared at Bill but refused to confront him. Nikolai held on to Daniel’s pants and waited.

It took fifteen minutes to organize which of the kids would go with whom, and then they all left Abstergo.

* * *

An Abstergo employee watched as five vehicles drove into the night. He leaned his head back, and then with a smirk said to no one in particular, “Well that was interesting. So now what guys?”

A child stepped out of the shadows and joined him on the balcony. He stared at the night sky, stars shining brightly despite the light pollution. He looked to be about eleven. “We’re not following them, John?”  
  
The man, John Standish, chewed on his cigarette and joined the boy on the balcony. “No, Bart. Let ‘em be. We wait this shit out, and more of our people will join us. Until then, we gather the loyal and the broken. That’s the plan."

Bartholomew Roberts scrunched up his nose in disdain. This century was so strange to him. He felt a tug and looked down. A little boy, five years of age, was staring at him. He bent down to pick him up.

The child pointed out into the empty night air in a direction only he could see. “Juno,” he said, clipped. Then quietly he said, “Arno. Elise." 

Bart adjusted his hold on the boy. The child was holding something silver clenched in his little fists. 

“Don’t worry, Frank. You’ll get them someday." 

Francois-Thomas Germaine made a face at the nickname given to him. It didn’t feel right. ‘Germaine’ suited him better.

Standish looked at . . . well . . . technically versions of himself from different points in time. His brothers-in-arms. He opened his arms wide and gestured into the night air. “We’ll get our chance to rise again, boys. One day. But for now, we do our works in the shadows."  
  
Standish tilted his head toward them and gave them an unnatural looking grin.  
  
“A little birdie told me Desmond Miles was sowing his oats willy-nilly in his younger years. And by a delicious twist, his offspring is one of _us_. He’d be seven by now. Shall we pay him a visit?”

The two boys smirked. That sounded like a_ fantastic_ idea.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, the Sages. It's the Sages.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Of artifacts and children.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted a proper Halloween chapter before the...end. 
> 
> But apparently you guys get story bits so think of this as the pre-HalloweenChristmas chapter. We have a Discord and comments are very much welcome.
> 
> -Spaced

Getting the kids to base was a whole lot easier than getting them out of Abstergo. No suspicious vehicles followed them, perhaps because of Berg. 

Desmond noticed Bill on the phone with a scowl on his face, saying clipped words into it. He must be talking to someone who wasn’t in their circle. He would worry, but Shay is sitting quietly in Bill’s lap happily holding the hard drive he took from Abstergo, with Bill eyeing him every now and then so the boy won’t fall off. Desmond is proud that his dad is doing emotional labor in some way.

When they got back to base Desmond wanted to wait to count all the new children that came with them. A scream that came from inside the base causes him to rush inside instead.   
  
Inside, he took in the surroundings, sighed, and said, “Alright, do I want to ask?”   
  
Rebecca and Lucy’s legs were tied to each other as Ezio, Elise, Edward, Evie, and Jacob danced around them and gleefully chanted, “Candy! Candy! Candy!”   
  
Rebecca indignantly cried out, “This is _ MUTINY _! Untie us right now!” 

Desmond folded his arms and the children sheepishly stopped. Lucy rolled her eyes. “Halloween is near and we thought it was a good idea to give them snacks. These troublemakers took advantage of our kindness,” she explained. She eyed Evie when the little girl hugged her leg and gave her a guilty pout. Lucy sighed. “Damn it. I can’t stay mad at you.” She patted Evie’s head, and Jacob’s too when he moved close enough to her. Rebecca groaned, “Nooooo, you’re spoiling them!”  
  
Desmond shook his head and then smiled when he noticed Altair holding hands and leading a sad-looking Arno, and . . . a little girl he swore was not among the kids he left.   
  
“Rebecca? Lucy? Who’s the new kid?”   
  
Rebecca swiveled her head and said, “Oh yeah, that’s Shao Jun. She was one of the kids who appeared a few hours ago.” The little girl shyly waved at Desmond. A few more unfamiliar faces peeked out as Haytham, Connor, and Aveline came out to join them.   
  
He smiled at her, then at all the children that gathered. “I figured what’s happening in Abstergo will happen here too. So, you guys ready to reunite with your friends?” 

* * *

It was a good kind of chaos as the kids met up again with their friends and . . . former enemies? Desmond wasn’t sure, but the kids all seem genuinely happy to see each other. 

  
Evie and Jacob were jumping up and down with their era mates while Crawford, the eldest child, helplessly looked on as the eight little ones jumped up and down all around him. 

Edward was instantly tackled by all his friends and he was laughing as Haytham looked on awkwardly. There was a girl next to them looking displeased at the proceedings, and Haytham was noticeably inching away from her. Connor, on the other hand, was holding her hand and she let it happen. Another boy was next to the little girl and he and Haytham glared at each other.   
  
Bill let Shay down near a tearful Arno and the baby hugged the older boy, rubbing his face on Shay’s chest and babbling. Shay hugged Arno back, relieved. Bill noticed two little boys he did not recognize alternating between glaring at each other and at Shay and Arno, while a little girl quietly watched with one of the boys and was staring hesitantly at Shay. Elise, ignoring them, ran to greet Bill and clapped her hands when Shay and Arno hugged. Bill smiled at her when she came to greet him. “I suppose you can tell me what this is all about, Mlle de la Serre?” Elise giggled and patted his cheeks. Well … he tried.   
  
Aveline was talking to Madeleine, Ah Tabai, and Laureano. Ezio hugged Yusuf and shook hands with a surprised Fiora. There was a quiet little boy with a fox hoodie sitting next to them and another boy scowling at them. 

Maria, holding her longsword, and Kadar, with a thumb in his mouth, watched amused as Malik pinched and pulled at Altair’s cheeks while Altair just let him, though the former Mentor seemed annoyed. 

Desmond then turned to the adults and at their confused looks he said, “So we have now gathered everyone, both Templars and Assassins. Now what?

* * *

After settling down, the older children, mostly Templar Grand Masters and Assassin Mentors, all approached the adults with something in hand.   
  
Violet stood up in horror. “_You_! You all had Isu artifacts this whole time?”   
  
Berg and Bill’s eyes widened but they said nothing. Melanie, Lucy, Shaun, and Rebecca gave each other knowing, tired looks. It looked like they had finally accepted the madness that was the antics of the children. Layla just stared, confused, and Daniel, who had put down Clay’s body in the Animus, leaned in the doorway nursing a bottle of what was likely alcohol.

Laureano shrugged and tossed what he was holding to them. Violet scrambled to catch it and glared at the boy. Ah Tabai hit the older boy’s arm as the boy grinned cheekily at their shocked reactions.   
  
“That piece of shit is mostly your problem now,” he shrugged. The other kids, mostly Templars, all stared at him equally shocked, so this probably was not what they were planning.   
  
Violet looked at the item she caught and balked at it. “Excuse my french, but what the fuck?” It was a crystal skull. She put it down on the table and pushed it toward the other adults and they, in turn, leaned away from it.   
  
Ah Tabai answered, giving Laureano the stink eye as the boy cackled in glee. “It’s one of the Isu’s communication devices. It also functions like …” he trailed off and looked at Desmond nervously.   
  
Desmond gave a guess by the way the kids scowled. “The Animus?”   
  
Ah Tabai nodded. Laureano put a transparent cube in front of the adults. “You put blood here and there is an area where we can view the owner of the blood’s current location.” All the adults blinked at the thought of a Precursor-style Animus.   
  
Next, Madeleine put a round disk in front of Desmond with Aveline at her side. “We called these Prophecy Disks during our time but they are anything but. These hold the memories of the Isu and they are recordings of what they considered important knowledge.” She gave Altair a look and the boy scratched his head sheepishly. “Mentor Ibn Al-Ahad encountered these discs and was tricked into replacing the memories inside by _ her _ .” The girl’s voice dripped with venom as she said “her”. Desmond nodded and carefully took the disc and placed it somewhere safe.   
  
Ezio poked at the Apple Desmond had and said, “There are staves still out there. Sorry, we couldn’t retrieve them.” Desmond patted Ezio’s head and frowned. _ Staves _ . Multiple staves. Good god, there was more than one of these blasted things. Nikolai nodded and some of the other children hesitantly nodded as well. That was a problem for another day.   
  
Desmond looked up when Crawford Starrick quietly approached him and put a briefcase on the table. Following closely behind him was little Lucy Thorne, (he thinks the girl must have been his right hand in the Order during his time) and, surprisingly, Jacob. The other Industrial era kids hung back and he could even see the two “neutral” children, Ned Wynert and Robert Topping (the latter who appeared at the base), quietly observing them. Crawford pushed the briefcase away from him and towards the adults. Little Lucy nervously latched onto his side while Jacob took Crawford’s other hand. The boy spoke, “Inside this briefcase is an artifact called “The Shroud”. It is a piece of cloth that can heal or revive the dead. That’s what we found out during our time. We thought it could give us immortality.”   
  
Bill’s hand hovered over the briefcase but stopped when Crawford continued, “We should have known there was a catch …” All the kids became quiet. Desmond sighed and looked up toward the ceiling of the chamber. He scrubbed a hand over his face. “I’m beginning to think there always is with these so-called artifacts. What’s the damage of this one?”   
  
Crawford stared nervously at it. “I wore it once.” He admitted. They all looked at the boy. “I wouldn’t have been the first Grandmaster to try using the item he had.” Little Lucy glared at Laureano when he made a loud wheezing sound. Crawford’s arm circled the little girl ready to defend him from his fellow Grandmaster. Berg and Bill’s eyebrows shot up at that. 

Desmond cleared his throat. “What did you find out?” he asked kindly. No need to cause more distress to the boy. Crawford hesitated. Jacob squeezed his hand, and the older boy said, “Someone is stuck in there, but even without that the shroud does not make something from nothing. If it heals you, it will probably take something from you or someone else. It could be your lifespan is greatly reduced or your mind is overtaken.”   
  
“So it’s like ‘Equivalent Exchange’?” Rebecca asked as she tilted her head. Layla snorted, “Oh wow, you nerd!” Rebecca grinned, “Yo, it’s a basic thing in actual alchemy. But I could recite it if you want, ‘_Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost.’”_ Layla groaned as Rebecca cackled and Shaun muttered, “Bless me, we lost Becca to anime.” Crawford blinked in confusion, “Yes? That’s exactly it. The entity in it is old and very angry. Please be careful when you open that thing.”   
  
No one dared to touch the briefcase at that revelation. Shaun sighed. “Bummer that we find a tool for healing that does anything but. There aren’t any more of these things, are there?”  
  
Shao Jun appeared between him and puts a box on the table. Shaun jumped at the little girl’s sneakiness. She quietly said, “Like the skull. Music Box uses blood to hold and copy memories.” She pushes the box further on the table as much as her little arms could reach. Then she waddled off to stand in front of Nikolai and to their surprise, tried to push Nikolai toward the adults.  
  
The boy gave his comrade a frown and stood his ground. Daniel gave his ancestor a look and said, “_D_e_da_...Do you have anything to share with us?”   
  
Nikolai made a face but did not budge. Daniel kneeled and tried once more. “_Deda_”. Nikolai hesitated. Then he took out what looked like a makeshift dagger. It was comprised of a jagged piece of metal and had a wrapped handle. Ezio peered at it and blinked. “Issa stave! Feels like it.”

Nikolai frowned and hid it once more. Daniel sighed. “Deda, come on. Give it back. According to everyone else, these things are really bad news. You don’t have to carry them alone anymore.”

Nikolai hesitated once again… then took out the dagger and handed it to Daniel, who covered it right away with a cloth. To the surprise of all the adults, Nikolai then slowly began unloading things hidden in the lining of his coat. What looked like makeshift bolas, a swiss knife, a handheld taser, a laser pen, a flashlight, a few kitchen knives, a lighter … “Hold on! How the hell did that kid carry all of that in his coat?” protested Shaun as Nikolai kept finding things to put in his growing pile of weapons and gear. Daniel covered his face in exasperation and embarrassment. “Deda, _ thank you _ , that will be all.”   
  
The children all had a look of unease and had taken a considerable number of steps away from Nikolai. The toddler huffed and began to slowly put everything away again.

A boy Haytham’s age put a map on the table. Desmond found out his name was Achilles and he was the Mentor during the time of Shay and Connor. He looked at Shay when he said, “This is a map to Pre-cursor sites. Shay can tell you what happens if you take the object that is hidden in them.” He then shuffled uneasily. “Shay was right. We shouldn’t mess with them.” There was a story there. Maybe someday they’s hear it.  
  
Shay shuffled in place as Arno tried to say something to them. Having many eyes trained on him stressed the boy out, and he hid his face as he hugged Shay. There were displeased noises coming from two boys but Shay ignored them and patted Arno’s head as he said carefully, “There was a sword! Not with Arno anymore. Dunno where it went. Supposed to have appeared with us.”   
  
Desmond frowned. A sword … a sword that was supposed to appear. Now _ that _ was worrying. Arno’s voice made a muffled, “ _ Pomme!” _ and Shay blinked then translated “Arno also found an Apple. Sent it off to Egypt,” the boy said, voice soft as he tried to hide his accent. Is that why Shay rarely spoke? He was trying to hide his heavy Irish accent? Oh no, that wouldn’t do. The kid should be comfortable talking to them. Desmond smiled at Shay and Arno and said, “We’ll worry about those when the time comes. Shay, if you ever feel like you need to talk, don’t be scared to speak to us, alright?” Shay nodded.   
  
Desmond finally looked at one of the children hesitating and he grinned when he recognized one of his ancestors. “Lady Maria? Do you have anything to share?” Maria Thorpe blinked when all eyes landed on her and her sword. She stepped back with it and said, “This sword is mine. I made this. This isn’t an Isu artifact.”   
  
Violet leaned closer and inspected the weapon the girl was lovingly carrying. “You _ made _ it? Meaning you commissioned it or-”. “I smithed it myself and sewn the sheath” Maria answered with a proud tilt to her head. Berg smiled at this as if he approved of this display. “I’ll hold on to my sword if you don’t mind,” she insisted. Desmond felt a pang of pride for Maria. “Yeah, it’s your weapon, you can keep it.” Maria hugged her weapon tighter as she grinned back at Desmond. 

Daniel put Nikolai’s Stave shard on the table and the adults all stared at the Isu artifacts collected. So many wars waged between their groups and different countries, all to obtain even a slice of the power that filled these objects. To have so many of the items they sought just . . . here in front of them? No one was willing to make the first move, not after the children’s reactions to them.   
  
Desmond glanced at the children. Their anxiety and dread seemed to increase the longer the adults made no decision. _ Fuck it _ , _ we can’t have that. _

“Let’s take a break. I think we can all use one.”

* * *

“What’s Halloween?” Malik asked Lucy as she prepared food for the kids. “Is it a Christian holiday?” Malik was keeping an eye on Kadar, who looked to be a year old, on one of the tables that were erected for them. Rebecca and Shaun were arguing with Violet and Layla in the corner about the Animus (out of sight from the kids) while Bill seemed to be in a shouting match on his phone (also away from the kids). Lucy did not know where Desmond or Daniel disappeared to, and Melanie seemed to accept her fate as the general child wrangler.   
  
“Goodness, no!” Lucy grinned. “Most Christians in America hate Halloween. They think it’s satanic. They believe that since it’s pagan rituals that scare monsters away and have kids dress up for fun to ask for candy, that it’s a bad thing. As if they didn’t appropriate Saturnalia and turn it into Christmas.” At Malik’s confused look she patted his head. “Don’t worry about it. Halloween is a fun tradition where people dress up and pretend for a night and binge on sweets. If it’s not against your religion, you can join in the fun if you want.”   
  
Malik shook his head, “Not religious. But I also dunno about the costumes.” He glanced at his brother and then at Altair who scowled when Malik gave a mischievous grin at him and said, “But scary stories around a fire? That I can do.” Altair flattened his mouth. Maria shook her head. “Are you still afraid of ghost stories, Altair?” Altair sputtered, “You should hear Malik’s stories then! Look at Kadar, he’s ready to cry just thinking about it”. 

Kadar indeed looked like he was upset and that seemed to ease some of Malik’s mischievousness. Lucy put down her batch of cookies to pick up Kadar and soothed him. 

“Don’t try stealing from this batch. It’s still hot. I see you there Ned Wynert, go back to the others.” A small hand withdrew from the edge of the table and disappeared under it. Lucy was getting better at handling the children. She felt a tug and looked down to see mini Lucy staring at her. 

Lucy leaned down to make eye contact with the little girl and Lucy Thorne scrunched up her nose to say, “Is your name Lucy too? Are you a witch?” Lucy giggled, “Yes, Ms. Thorne. I’m Lucy Stillman, and no, I’m not a witch. Why do you ask?” 

Baby Lucy sniffed and said, “Well we both can’t be “Lucy”. And you know a lot about the holidays and you’re wearing lipstick. That means you’re a witch. That’s okay. I was once a witch.” Lucy remembered that there was a law in England that proclaimed any woman wearing lipstick was practicing witchcraft because they enticed men when they do so. She suddenly felt annoyed in general. “Well, in this day and age, any woman can choose to wear or not wear make-up regardless of religion or societal norms. When you are older and if you become interested, I swear I will teach you and anyone who wants to learn about make-up. That’s your right as a free woman.” Little Lucy suddenly became quite shy at that. 

Lucy smiled kindly at the little girl. “When I was a kid, my nana called me a special nickname no one else can call me. She called me “Lulu”. How do you feel about me calling you that?” The little girl looked up surprised. “_ Lulu,” _ she tried. Lucy nodded, “Yep. Between the two of us if that’s alright with you?”

The girl bashfully looked away and mumbled, “I’ll think about it”. But Lucy could see a hint of a smile on her face and the woman grinned. “Well, I’ve been saving this for Halloween as a joke, but you can have it if you want. It’s a witch hat.” Lulu took the hat from Lucy with a squeal and hugged the woman. She then rushed off to show the others her new costume.   
  
Lucy stood up and balanced Kadar in her arms. Maria, Altair, and Malik all stared at her thoughtfully. 

“What?” 

Maria tilted her head and then smiled, “That was kind of you.” Lucy laughed. “Aw, it’s nothing. Now please help me keep these cookies safe until I’m ready to give them away.” She turned to the counter only to see the same small hand from before reaching for the plate.

“_ NED WYNERT paws off the cookies!” _

* * *

“Are you lighting candles for _ Dia de los Muertos, _ Ms. Da Costa?” Laureano asked Violet as she was lighting candles. She winced, caught. Violet was not a sentimental person. She wasn’t religious at all. She wasn’t even Mexican, for crying out loud. But her family always held vigil around this time of year and tradition is something hard to break. “Yeah. I had an _ ofrenda _ set up at home but I’ll make do here. Why are you asking?”   
  
The young boy looked at his hands then at the candles. His assassin mentor contemporary looked away as well. “Can I light a candle as well? It is for our children.” He gestured between him and Ah Tabai. “Our actual children and our adopted ones. We hoped they can join us in this new life but …” he trailed off sadly. 

Violet’s eyes widened. She forgot these kids had lived a long time ago. “Uh . . . sure. Help yourselves.”  
  
Some of the other kids curiously went up to them and when they found out what they were doing, they wanted to join in too.   
  
Lulu looked down and said sadly, “I miss my Nellie. We never got to see her grow up.” Jacob shuffled his foot and said, “Jack wasn’t . . . a good boy. But I loved him like a son. I miss Lydia as well. She grew up happy, right Evie?” Evie, who had been looking guiltily at Lulu, jumped at Jacob’s admissions. “U-um … yeah.” She looked down. “I miss my little Clara.” 

The children all murmured the names of their children sadly, or how nice it would be if they were there with them. Arno squeaked out a “Leon!” while Ezio patted his back and replied, “I miss my Flavia and Marcello. Sofia is gone too.”   
  
Laureano lit his candle and put it next to Violet’s. He looked her in the eye with all mirth gone, “The things we all have sacrificed for those trinkets in the next room, the blood of our descendants spilled carelessly? None of that was worth the people we had lost. Our Order has become a shell of itself. Be careful, Ms. De Costa, of the people you give your loyalty to. There is no reward in whatever Afterlife _ she _ has promised you. You have to make connections here and now on Earth. I do not think you would be given the same chance as us.”   
  
Violet whirled to face Laureano in horror. How much did the boy know? He was staring at her. None of the other kids had heard them, too caught up in their own grief.   
  
“ _ How _ do you-- you can’t prove anything,” she hissed. Laureano shrugged, “You’re right. I cannot. But look around us, Ms. De Costa, we lost what was most important to us, chasing a fantasy with dreams of changing the world. And look where we _ still _ are after centuries of war. You cannot think of changing the present unless you start with changing things on your own terms. Do not be led astray by someone who can’t do things for herself and needs _ lackeys _ to do the job for her.”   
  
“How _ dare _ you, you brat! What do you know? Juno-”   
  
“There we have it. The temptress’s name. And yes, Ms. De Costa I _ dare _ to call you out. Juno was the worst of the bunch. The other Isu loathed her for the greedy and ambitious narcissist she was. And that’s saying something as most of them were self-serving. We are Templars, Ms. De Costa and we have _ pride _ in what we do. Never forget our goals of leading humanity to a golden age. At least we were honest about the costs, compared to the lies Juno regularly gave her compatriots. Do you know of the entity in the Shroud? Who put him there? Do you know of Atlantis, or the Eye that lies within this Temple? Do you know of the gods in Egypt, what they whisper to those trained with the sense? Do you understand the hypocrisy of looking for _ family _ from someone who has repeatedly hurt and betrayed her own? She experimented on her dead husband, for fuck’s sake!”   
  
Violet looked like she had been slapped.   
  
Laureano felt someone take his hand. Ah Tabai entwined his fingers with the other boy and Laureano nodded in gratitude. “I want you to understand this, Ms. De Costa. That woman takes and takes and leaves you bare. What we have all lost is proof of that. She will never keep her promises. There is nothing in this world that you can give her that is worth more than the people you have right now. Please, think _ hard _ on what you will do next.”

Laureano then stood up, taking Ah Tabai with him. The Grand Master gave her a bow and left with the Assassin Mentor in hand. 

Violet was left dumbstruck, surrounded by quiet, grieving children in front of a makeshift altar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Violet, in canon, is part of the Instruments of the First Will and while rude and blunt to others, deep down she only wanted camaraderie and family. If she had actual friends that can call out her bullshit, she probably would not have been so hopelessly loyal to Juno. Probably. 
> 
> Like I said, I wanna try saving everyone. Wish me luck. We are nearing the end of the first arc.
> 
> -Spaced


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More holiday preparations, lineages are revealed, and a conclave has been summoned

Berg comes back with two crates of apples, a cart full of pumpkins and bags of candy. He also brings a little girl who is happily riding in the cart with the pumpkins.   
  
When asked by the confused adults, he shrugged and replied, “My daughter wanted to see her friends, and when she learned there was a party she wanted to come too.”   
  
It was amazing how children can easily get along. Elina jumped out of the cart carrying a really tiny pumpkin and showed it to Lulu and Pearl, who had dragged their friends over to greet the baby girl.    
  
Lucy kneeled and inspected the pumpkins mumbling something about pie as the other Templars gathered around Berg.    
  
Violet’s eyebrows raised as she said, “A little lax now, are we? What happened to “focus on the objective” Berg? We are surrounded by Assassins, there are Isu artifacts here out in the open but here you are, going along with the party planning.” She looked disgustedly at Lucy, but to her annoyance, Lucy purposefully ignored her.    
  
Berg gave her a long look and said, “If you must know, some of the Inner Sanctum are coming, do not fret. All decisions will be made in front of them.” He lowered his voice and said quietly to Violet, “And you of all people ask me this, Ms. Da Costa? You talk big for someone with conflicting loyalties.”   
  
Violet’s mouth opened and closed as Melanie swiveled her head to Violet. “What is he talking about Da Costa?” she asked sweetly. Melanie was smiling but there was something of an edge to it. Violet blinked. Maybe Melanie wasn’t as hairbrained as everyone thought she was.    
  
The tension was broken by a few little ones, led by Ned and Elise, squeezing themselves between the adults. Melanie directed her attention to them. “Monsieurs and Mademoiselles, what are you doing? You’re not supposed to be taking those until later!”    
  
Ned and the other children froze, caught trying to take the candy hidden away in their bags. Berg chuckled and lamented, “Now I thought that hiding place was good. Shame it was the first place you all looked. What dastardly geniuses.”

Lucy turned her head to look at the kids, scowled, and stood. The little ones all gave squeaks of dismay as she stalked over to catch them. “I swear to whoever is listening, I  _ will _ ban you from eating candy if I catch any child with sweets that weren’t given during trick or treat later. Surrender the loot,  _ now. _ ” 

The thieves quietly surrendered their candy. Lucy squinted. “ _ All _ of it. Especially the ones stuffed in your pockets and that teddy bear.” Elise pouted, her brilliant plan foiled.    
  
Berg tilted his head. “I think that’s a harsh punishment, Miss Stillman. One or two candies won’t go amiss.”

Lucy and Melanie both gave Berg a dead-eyed stare. “Master Berg, you have not known the hell that is a hyperactive child on a sugar rush. Now multiply that by,” Lucy gestured around them at the growing throng of children running about, excited to do something _ other _ than worrying about the fate of the world.    
  
Melanie nodded sagely as Berg raised his hands in defeat. Under their watchful eye, Elise grumbled as she emptied her procured stuffed toy of the candies she hid in it.    
  
Across the room from them, the adult Assassins quietly talked.    
  
“Gavin is coming with a few other Assassins. I explained the situation to them. They are  _ not  _ happy I asked for a ceasefire and a council meeting with the Templars,” Bill sighed. He was helping Shaun and Rebecca make quick costumes for the children that wanted to participate in trick or treating.   
  
Desmond tried putting on a jacket on a squirming Connor, watched over by a little girl who looked like him. Desmond asked the girl for her name, and all she replied was “ _ Kaniehtí:io _ ”. This must be Connor’s mother, Ziio, judging by the way Haytham dithered between wanting to talk to her and avoiding her. “Sorry, bit distracted,” Desmond said as he tried once again to put Connor’s arms in the hoodie but the boy was not having it. “Who?”   
  
Bill scratched his beard. “Do you remember in . . . the Farm? You called him Uncle Gavin.”   
  
“Ah,” Desmond barely remembered a man with a blinding smile and jovial laugh. He always had a kind word for Desmond and even asked Bill to lighten up on Desmond’s training. It’s a shame that Desmond hadn’t known if he could trust him back when he ran away from the Farm.   
  
Bill watched as Desmond spent a minute or two coaxing the stubborn toddler before using a hand to tickle the boy. Connor squeaked and Desmond quickly put the hoodie on before releasing him to the waiting Ziio. He behaved instantly the minute she took his hand.    
  
“They suspected it was a trap then.” Desmond guessed. He noticed in the corner of his eye little Evie sneaking up on her brother. Evie was in a wolf onesie while Jacob was in a red hoodie, sitting on the floor and drawing. He wondered if it was Shaun or Rebecca’s idea to put them in matching outfits.    
  
“As they should. Assassins and Templars never get along especially with Isu artifacts on the line. This many though …” Bill sat down, exhausted. “The children’s reactions to those things. Tell me Desmond, do you believe their warnings about the artifacts? About the Isu?”   
  
Desmond doesn’t hesitate in answering, “Yes.”   
  
“ _ Why?”  _

“Because they’ve died trying to get these things. They have nothing to lose now,” Desmond turned to his father. “These Assassins and Templars are, together, ignoring the items of power in the next room and trying to have fun as kids. Isn’t that saying something? That they have devoted their whole lives to warring with each other, trying to get their hands on these things, and in the end nothing truly changed? Doesn’t that give off a very big red flag that they now want nothing to do with the artifacts?”   
  
Bill sat back, troubled. 

Shaun snorted, “_Wrong_. They still care somewhat. They came to _you _for a solution, Desmond. Think about that for a moment.”

Desmond blinked. That probably had not occurred to him. 

He was about to answer when there was a loud “Rawr!” and all the adults turned to see Evie pounce on her brother, causing the boy to fall on his back and interrupting his drawing.    


The little girl giggled but stopped short when her brother gave a terrified wail. She stepped back as he began to cry and then helplessly looked over to the adults.    
  
“Oh, Evie,” lamented Shaun as he went to the twins, Desmond and Rebecca following after him. Shaun picked up a sobbing Jacob and rubbed the boy’s back. Desmond kneeled in front of Evie as Rebecca folded her arms.    
  
Evie did what most children do when cornered: she puffed out her chest and said defensively, “It was only a little trick. He didn’t really get hurt!”   
  
Shaun balked. “Evie, that was still dangerous! Look at your brother, he’s upset!”   
  
Evie’s eyes began to pool with angry tears, “Well, he’s just a snotty crybaby!” 

Jacob cried harder in response.   
  
“ _ Evie! _ ” scolded Shaun and Rebecca simultaneously, appalled. Desmond blinked in confusion. Evie usually wasn’t this misbehaved, and according to her files she was a good child compared to Jacob’s wild nature. But then, those were memories they had as adults. Maybe they were the opposite as children. It wouldn’t be that strange for something like that to happen. Something in their childhood caused them to completely invert the way they interacted with the world.   
  
Evie looked down, sniffing, trying not to show she too was upset. Then she turned and ran away.    
  
“Evie!”    
  
“I’ll do it, I’ll go after her,” Rebecca said and rushed after the little girl. Shaun was busy soothing Jacob, who was still crying.    
  
Desmond sighed and looked at his father. “You know, I don’t know why they all chose to come to us, but I think it is for a good reason. I don’t think children their age would be able to come up with such complex plans and execute them on such a large scale.”   
  
Bill tilted his head in acknowledgment, “Maybe not one child. But these children were adults before and brilliant ones at that. They may not remember their lives before, but they have all come together for a purpose as children, and so far all their plans are going smoothly. They’re doing it by numbers. If one doesn’t remember or cannot do a task, the others pick up the slack. It won’t hurt to exercise caution, especially as there seems to be a new child popping up every day.”   
  
Desmond nodded. “That I can do. Listen, I’ll go look for Evie as well and check up on the other kids. Stay here and deal with the costumes.”   
  
Bill blinked as Desmond walked away, Shaun still murmuring quietly to Jacob to get him to calm down. Bill felt a tug and he looked down. Arno and Elise were by his legs and staring at the white cloth he was holding. Shay, next to them, looked at Bill sheepishly. He must have been trying to stop them from going something. Bill sighed and took out his scissors.   
  
“Alright, Elise, Arno. What costumes were the two of you planning to do and why did you rope Shay into it?”

* * *

“Ezio, what are you doing? You won’t join the others?” Desmond asked the little boy. In his search for Evie, he had noticed the little Mentor missing from the impromptu holiday celebrations and found him on a chair next to Clay’s sleeping form in the Animus.    
  
Ezio was quiet but Desmond can tell the boy was contemplating something, just staring at Clay. 

After a minute, the boy looked up at Desmond with tears in his eyes and asked, “Am I a bad papa?”    
  
Desmond looked kindly at Ezio and smiled at him. No, Ezio was a very good father to Flavia and Marcello. Even if his body was giving in to old age, Ezio still gave his all to his family. It was a shame he hadn’t had more time with them.

“Ezio, you were the best father any child could have. Where is this question coming from?” 

Ezio patted Clay’s cheeks in answer, “Clay is not from Flavia or Marcello I don't know the name of the little one he came from.”

_ Oh.  _

Ezio looked down guilty. Desmond patted his head in understanding. Ezio, if he had known, would have loved his illegitimate children regardless and taken care of them. He would have been happy. 

Desmond rubbed Ezio’s back and said, “You would have made a good papa for this little one. I don’t know what Clay would have said, but I followed you for a while in the Animus, and I really believe this.” He gave Ezio a hug. The boy hugged him back. They stayed like that for a while, until Daniel found them.    
  
Daniel cleared his throat, “Master Cormac told me to hook this up to the Animus. It’ll help Clay. '' He motioned to the hard drive that Shay brought with him from Abstergo.

Desmond lifted Ezio from the chair and said, “Go to the others, okay? Have fun tonight.'' Ezio nodded and then ran off. Desmond was about to follow him when Daniel grabbed Desmond’s arm, pulling him to an out of sight corner, slammed the man into a wall, took Desmond’s jaw and brought his face closer to Desmond. Daniel’s breath ghosted the other man’s lips as he said:   
  
“Now that we’re alone, let’s talk”

* * *

Evie ran, ran, ran as far as her little legs could take her, all the way outside the Grand Temple where she sits in a place just by the entrance, hidden by the bushes. It was unfair! She only played a harmless little trick on Jacob and because he was crying, Desmond and Shaun and Becca were mad at her!  _ Stupid, crybaby _ \---   
  
Evie shook her head. What was she  _ thinking _ ! This was her baby brother, Jacob! Her twin! How could she think of him that way? 

Evie began to loudly cry. What if Jacob hated her now? What if she broke her promise to him when they reunited again after . . . Jack . . . the painful memories come and go in her little mind and though most are hazy, she remembers some things very clearly. Unfortunately, she remembers their father. 

After the events in London, the twins swore to each other. He swore he would never treat the children under their care the way their father treated them, and Henry and she swore to never hurt her brother the way their father did. What if, in this new world with a new start, she becomes like Ethan Frye?   
  
Evie cried, scared and lost. So caught up in her sorrow she did not realize someone had parted the bushes to find her.    
  
“Look, Isabelle! A little girl in a wolf onesie! Aw, poor baby, here wipe your eyes.”   
  
And because Evie was too emotional to sense she was in danger, she allowed the stranger to pick her up and wipe her eyes on a hankie and blow her nose.    
  
“Do you think she is one of them? Poor dear, out in the cold.” 

The woman that picked her up seemed familiar, but Evie could not put a finger on it. She sniffed. The woman rubbed her back and cooed.    
  
The other woman huffed, “I still think this is a trap, Laetitia. But Cross is here. And a few of our very own reliable operatives. You have seen the reports and watched the footage of the children.” Isabelle’s accent was like Evie’s and the other Industrial kids.    
  
Laetitia giggled. “Yes … They did a number on Warren, didn’t they?”    
  
Isabelle did not smile. But her mouth did twitch a little in obvious agreement. Evie wondered who these ladies were.    
  
What Laetitia said next though scared the little girl, “Pity you turned down the offer of testing the children’s blood. We would have found a great use for them if they really were who they said they were.”   
  
Isabelle looked disgusted by what Laetitia said. “They are  _ children,  _ Letty. No matter their alliance, I will  _ not  _ allow harm to come to a child.”   
  
Laetitia cocked an eyebrow. “Correction. These are de-aged children. They were adults once. But I suppose there is merit in your methods. There are  _ other  _ ways to get information out of a person. For example, this little one. What’s your name dear?”    
  
Evie wondered if she can kick the lady and run back inside but this Laetitia is holding on to her tightly, making sure she won’t fall and her eyes -  _ Oh, what the heck?  _ They’re  _ glowing gold.  _   
  
“Evie,” she answered, not knowing if she answered in shock or reflex. “Evie Frye.”    
  
To her surprise, Laetitia blinked and her eyes stopped glowing. Her mouth opened wide, then closed. Then she squealed. She hugged Evie, cradled her, and cooed, “Oh my gosh! Hello, Auntie Evie! May I call you that? Or should I call you Nana Evie?”    
  
Evie blinked and looked to Isabelle who’s eyes have widened in disbelief. She tried wiggling away from Letty’s grasp. “Um… I dunno. I’m still a baby and you’re a grownup”    
  
“Oh silly me, that would sound weird but … I don’t know what else to call you!” Laetitia grinned excitedly at her. “Hello, it’s nice to meet you, Evie. My name is Laetitia England. My nana was Lydia Frye, your grand-niece! You’re one of my ancestors!”

* * *

It was a quintessential Fall tradition that children gather old leaves into a pile … then jump into it.    
  
A few such piles were beautifully well placed by Rebecca, Melanie, and Layla, large enough for a bunch of kids to jump in and out off. Big enough to hold a body in.    
  
Nikolai glared unimpressed at one of the bigger piles of leaves. 

The pile of leaves gave no reaction to the toddler’s glaring. Nikolai then took a sturdy stick on the ground and whacked the leaf pile hard. 

Again, no reaction.    
  
“Hey, Nikolai. What’re you doing?”   
  
Altair, holding hands with Connor and Ezio curiously go up to the little former Assassin. Nikolai gave a loud huff. Then he suddenly made a sharp jab into the pile.

The leaf pile gave a shudder but otherwise said nothing. This time, the other Assassins spotted it.    
  
Altair stepped back and pulled Connor and Ezio behind him. “Nikolai, someone is in there, get away!”    
  
Nikolai rolled his eyes. Yes, he  ** _knows. _ ** Although the toddler wondered if he should be impressed at whoever was hiding inside for not giving themselves away after repeatedly getting hit by a stick. 

Ah, well. Shame, but such is life. Nikolai took out a lighter and his fellow assassins protested in horror when he lit the flame. 

“До свидания ( _ Do svidaniya _ ).” said the toddler and he let the lighter go. 

A hand shot out from the pile of leaves to catch the lighter and a voice cried out, “You little maniac! I thought you were one of us! You’ll get us all killed!”    
  


A sound came from the periphery of the area. “Alright, stand down Kiyoshi. That is still a Master Assassin you are dealing with.”    
  
A man stepped into the glade with two women following him. The pile of leaves straightened up to reveal a disgruntled man rubbing his head then solar plexus.    
  
“I thought Vidic was an idiot to get trounced by a toddler but holy shit, this kid is good. Master Assassin, huh?” Kiyoshi complained.   
  
Their leader hummed when he noticed Nikolai glaring at them particularly at one of the women. She looked surprised to see him. The man coughed politely, “Correction. Former Master Assassin. Our brothers, during your era, crossed the line for you many times. Am I right, Master Orelov?”    
  
Nikolai huffed and crossed his arms. Altair put a protective hand on Nikolai’s shoulder as Connor had grabbed a protesting Ezio and ran back to find the adults.   
  
“And you are?”   
  
The man bowed his head and said, “It is an honor to meet you, Mentor. My name is Gavin Banks, and my team and I are here on behalf of the Assassin Brotherhood of this time to talk about the fate of the world.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> one or two more chapters until this first arc is done. Me and Chillin will take a break until the holidays are done! thank you so much and happy holidays guys! -spaced


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The end...for now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WE LIIIIVE. Enjoy the last chapter of the first arc and don't worry, there are more stories to come

“What’s going on here?”   
  
Desmond wasn’t sure what he expected when he went out to their main “holding area”. Two women he had never seen before were sitting serenely with the Templars, marking them as the representatives of the Templar’s Inner Sanctum. Desmond wondered why they didn’t come with any bodyguards, but he guessed it was because of Berg himself. 

He frowned when he saw Evie sitting quietly on one of their laps. The little girl didn’t look uncomfortable there, but she didn’t look at ease either. Maybe because she was craning her neck to squint at the lady who was visibly giddy at cradling Evie.   
  
He then looked over to the Assassins, and there were more people he did not know glaring at the Templars. 

None of them seemed to want to make a move because of all the children purposefully ignoring the tense atmosphere, instead preparing their props and costumes and chatting excitedly with each other.    
  
Both groups seemed to be waiting for something or someone. 

When they turned their heads to face him, it finally clicked that they were waiting for  _ him _ . Oh geez.

He could feel Daniel lean behind the archway so he wouldn't be seen just yet. Just like the others, he was waiting for what Desmond would do next.

Desmond closed his eyes and sighed. When he opened them he found a few of the children gathered around his legs, probably picking up on his distress, and he gave them a thankful smile and patted the heads he could reach.

"Okay . . . okay. Let's talk."

* * *

It was one thing to learn about and research Isu artifacts. It was another thing to see them for real. 

Gavin could feel the power radiating from each item from where he was sitting, and it was tempting to reach out, an urge he could see one of the Inner Sanctum members also having trouble with. She noticed Gavin staring and narrowed her eyes. She then turned to her comrade who was holding one of the kids and spoke to her quietly. 

Galina Voronina, one of the women who came with Gavin, moved closer to him. "The boy is still glaring at me, Gavin." 

Gavin turned his head to see little Nikolai giving them, particularly Galina, the stink-eye from behind Rebecca. It would have been adorable if they didn’t know what the child was capable of. 

"Well your grandfather, Sergei, kidnapped Nikolai's son and held him hostage. Also he threatened to kill Nikolai's whole family in front of him," Gavin waved at the boy. Nikolai sniffed and then partially hid his face behind Rebecca's jacket, still glaring. 

Rebecca sighed and patted the child's head. “This whole thing is so weird.”

And it was. Some of the kids would peek in and, if they saw anyone that seemed to be tempted by the artifacts, they would distract them with questions.    
  
“Can you help me with my costume, please?”   
“What do you do in Abstergo?”    
“Do you really sail around the world?”   
“Is it true that women can vote these days?”   
  


What was supposed to be a tense situation was diminished by the number of cute, curious children weaving in between adults, and the adults patiently answering them.    
  
Gavin felt a pat on his leg and saw a misshapen lump of white cloth with two holes cut in the front of what looked to be a horse’s head. There was a little boy leading the white lump toward Gavin, and he could sense the adults that could see the display trying to restrain themselves from cooing. 

The little boy held up a pumpkin-shaped basket and smiled at him. Gavin blinked, not knowing what to do.    


“Candy!” demanded the back part of the white lump. Rebecca laughed. “Ah, so that’s where you went, Élise. Is that Shay at the front?”    
  
They could hear a barely audible sigh and the horse head drooped a little. “N-neigh?” it said reluctantly.

The other woman who came with the Assassins leaned past Gavin to look at the white lump. “Oh, you’re a ghost pony. Very spooky, kids.” Stephanie Chiu grinned in delight when the horse head nodded, and the little boy with the pumpkin beamed. The back part once again demanded, “Candy!”

Lucy strode in and then stopped to peer closely at the little ghost pony and Arno. The back part shuffled closer to the horse head part and Lucy sighed. 

To the surprise of everyone, Lucy carelessly pushed the artifacts to the side of the table to make room for a large bowl of candy, and picked a handful. She then kneeled in front of the kids and said, “Élise, I know you roped Shay and Arno into your candy schemes, but if you want something from someone, what is the first thing you should say?”  
  
The little girl peeked out from under the white sheet, scrunched her nose, and thought hard. Not knowing what to do, she reluctantly said, “Candy?”  
  
Lucy shook her head but smiled, “Close. The magic words, Élise. What are they?”  
  
Élise took a moment and then she replied, “P . . . Plee . . . Candy-” she shook her head, “_Bonbon,_ _s’il vous plait?” __  
__  
_Rebecca giggled, and even Berg gave Élise a proud smile. Lucy put the candy in the pumpkin Arno was carrying, and Arno excitedly rattled their shared first haul.   
  
Lucy then gave a pouting Élise a little baggie filled with the cookies she had baked earlier and patted her head. “As promised, for your troubles. Just don’t eat it all right away.”

Élise’s eyes bugged out as she gingerly accepted the offered treats. Realizing Lucy wasn’t going to take away her procured treasure, the little girl stuffed the cookies in her teddy bear, then rushed forward to gratefully hug Lucy. She then returned under the blanket and ushered a harried Shay, with Arno toddling after them, to the Templar side of the table with demands of “Candy!  _ Si’l vous plait?” _ _   
_ _   
_ Taking it as their cue, the kids approached the newer adults to ask for candy, and the adults responded by hesitantly taking fistfuls of candy from the enormous bowl and giving it to the kids. The ones who originally were around the kids kept an eye on the amount of candy being passed out. Especially Melanie, who gave one long look at her assorted seafaring kids that made them scramble to form a line and not cause any trouble as they waited for their turn to receive candy. 

As the kids with candy happily poured out of the room, some lingered behind out of curiosity, and before any of the adults had time to process what just happened and rekindle the previous tension, Desmond entered carrying the prophecy disk with Layla, Violet, and Shaun following closely behind.   
  
Violet looked sick and Shaun looked paler than usual. Desmond put the Prophecy disk in the pile of assorted artifacts and opened up a laptop Layla brought in. He then hooked up the hard drive before greeting everyone with, “There’s something you all need to see. It’s important.”    


* * *

_ There were three tall, beautiful people talking about the end of the world and how it would happen.  _ _   
_ _   
_ _ They talked about it in great detail, and afterward one of them seemed to look at their audience and address Desmond. She then explained everything to him, about the flare that would happen on December 12. The point of view shifted slightly to the woman behind the one speaking. For someone so beautiful, she had a horrendous expression tinged with hate. _

_ The scene returned to the woman talking before the memory cut. _

* * *

No one dared to say a thing as Desmond disconnected from the memory. He sighed then put his hands on the table. He could feel one of the kids latch on to him and he touched their head, distracted.   
  
“So that’s that. Huh.”

He looked at the adults gathered around the table, at the horrified looks of his friends, at the slight pity on some of the Assassin and Templar faces, and the calculating looks of the ones higher up in both the Order and Brotherhood.    
  
“Desmond . . .” whispered Rebecca, holding on to little Nikolai in shock. “Des--- Des you can’t . . .”   
  
Desmond shook his head. For years he has been devoid of purpose, and even after discovering the legacy gifted to him by his lineage of both Assassins and Templars it still felt like something given to him by proxy. It’s a relief, though a cruel one, that the one thing he’ll be truly useful for is humanity’s fate.    
  
“Looks like I’ll have to fulfill my purpose and die.” 

Something crashed behind them. They all turned to see Bill with his arms slack, mouth agape, a spilled bowl of candy at his feet and staring at the Disk before turning his gaze on Desmond. An uncomfortable minute passed before Bill wordlessly turned around and stalked off. No one but the little hybrid ghost pony and Arno toddled after him.   
  
Desmond felt the child hanging on to his leg tighten their grip on him. He looked down and saw Connor clinging to him, face hidden in his leg and making unhappy sounds. He bent down to pick the boy up and then turned to Gavin, to the Inner Sanctum members, to everyone gathered around the table.    
  
“We need to plan this carefully, but I have a personal request for you all.”   
  


* * *

“You---you all knew,” Bill accused.   
  
Shay, Élise, and Arno nodded their tiny little heads. Bill was seated on the floor tugging on his hair. “You knew Desmond would die!”

The kids said nothing. Shay hesitantly went up to Bill to touch him but Bill pushed the little one away. Shay fell to the floor and had a hurt look on his face. Élise rushed up and stretched her arms wide to protect Shay.    
  
Bill looked furious. “I finally found my son and then learned I would lose him forever? We have no choice in the matter? Where is the justice in that?” Bill took off his glasses in frustration, then felt a tiny pat on his arm. 

Arno gave Bill a small, sad smile. Then the little one hugged him.    
  
Bill broke down sobbing, embracing the child in turn. He felt two pairs of arms hesitatingly hug him, and he opened his arms to embrace Shay and Élise as well.    
  
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!”   
  
Shay, understanding, hugged him tighter and buried his face in his shoulder, while Élise mumbled a begrudging sound and patted Bill.    
  
The three kids stayed like that with the grieving man as long as they could. 

* * *

  
  


“All I ask is that you all take care of the children. Make sure they have a normal childhood,” Desmond said. Connor made upset noises again and protectively hugged Desmond. 

None of the adults in the table spoke, too stunned by what the disk showed them.   
  
Gavin tilted his head, looked at the Templar side of the table at the little one making a small fuss in one of the Inner Sanctum’s arms. He then turned to Desmond in curiosity.   
  
“But why? Why ask that of us? I understand if this request is for your ancestors, but for  _ all  _ of the children? This is a herculean task that not even those who will agree to it can handle,” Gavin gestured to the people gathered around the table.    
  
Desmond smiled at Gavin and Gavin blinked. He had never seen his godson smile. He wondered if Desmond remembered him at all.    
  
Desmond then turned to the Templar side of the table and addressed the two ladies of the Inner Sanctum, “I wonder why you two specifically came here so willingly. I bet you wanted answers, but I guess the disk just gave more questions. None of you are demanding anything or threatening me. Am I right in guessing Abstergo Entertainment and the Grand Temple  _ isn’t the only place where former people from both our Orders reincarnated and appeared? _ ”   
  
Laetitia blinked while Isabelle froze. From across the table she saw Ms. Voronina taking a sharp breath. Desmond nailed it right on the head. It was worrying that even Alan Rinkin had started asking questions and then sent them a video email showing one of his prized subjects, a certain Callum Lynch trying to control a toddler throwing a tantrum. Alan’s daughter, Dr. Sofia Rikkin explained that a few days ago, children began appearing in testing chambers disrupting the work Abstergo was doing over “criminals” and through Sofia and Isabelle’s quick thinking, no one dared touch the children…yet. Isabelle was high enough in the Inner Sanctum, but only she and Daniel were willing to protect these little time travellers.   
  
Laetitia looked down at the “child” in her arms. This child was once a former adult and that in itself was a miracle. She had to know if they truly are children. Evie had stopped fussing and had rested her head on the woman’s shoulders. Laetitia rubbed her hands up and down Evie’s back in worry.    
  
“Nana Evie?” Laetitia asked. Evie gave a small hiccup, “A-are they gonna take us away now?” she asked quietly, scared. Laetitia felt the little girl shake. She tightened her hold on the child. “Nana, I-”   
  
“No. Daniel and I won’t let that happen. You will stay as far away from Abstergo as possible,” Isabelle murmured reassuringly to the girl.    
  
Evie still did not take her head off Laetitia’s shoulders but she said, “I still haven’t said sorry to Jacob. I called him a snotty crybaby. I hurt his feelings.”   
  
Berg coughed politely to hide his amusement, Melanie looked away before she could let out an inappropriate coo at Evie and Isabelle looked pointedly at Laetitia. This settled it, these were actual  _ children, physically, mentally and emotionally, _ and even if they retained some of their memories they will be treated like children.    
  
Laetitia conceded. “Jacob...you mean Grandfather?” Evie nodded. Laetitia almost let out a giddy squeal. She actually will meet the people important to her Nana Lydia, the person who cared for her all her life.    
  
Berg said, “Miss Frye, you know that the proper thing to do is to apologize to your brother especially if you hurt him.” Evie said nothing. Berg leaned forward to tell her kindly, “I bet he misses you too.” Evie gave Berg a peek, then hid her face on Letty’s shoulders again.

It took a lot of effort not to react because Evie was just too damn adorable.   
  
Across the table, another conversation was happening.    
  
“How did you know?” Galina asked Desmond, but her eyes were trained on Nikolai who was still glaring at her.   
  
Desmond tilted his head and then turned to Gavin, “If it’s alright, may I ask who appeared to you and why they insisted you come here?”   
  
Gavin scratched his beard. “We have a few operatives who suddenly had children appear to them,” Gavin gave Galina a look but the woman just crossed her arms and continued trying to ignore Nikolai’s constant glaring. Gavin sighed. “Voronina, for example, had her mother, her twin sister, and her grandfather resurrected.” Desmond’s eyes widened, especially when he heard Nikolai’s outraged squeak.    
  
“You must also know, a few of our operatives who had their ancestors appear to them are minors,” Gavin continued. Desmond looked down, angry. Gavin understood that feeling, in a way. It was what he felt when he first saw Desmond training as a child no older than the one he was holding. “It is unfortunate, yes, but that is the reality of our work. An Assassin’s life is solitary. Still, I don’t think anyone of our profession is prepared to properly take care of a child, let alone a batch of them.” Gavin observed Nikolai, who was trying to wiggle out of Rebecca’s grasp. “We will talk about logistics later, but I think you already know the answer, Desmond.”   
  
Desmond shook his head. “I need confirmation from the people here that the children will be safe, no matter what their alliance was. There would be no discrimination or old blood. This is something new.”   
  
Violet sat down exhausted. “But…why us?”   
  
Desmond smiled at her and Violet’s heart stuttered. Did he know as well? Connor just stared at her as Desmond shrugged as much as he could while holding a child.    
  
“Because for whatever reason and despite the danger, you all came here of your own volition instead of sending someone else. That gives me proof that you are willing to take matters into your own hands. No matter what happens after, the children will be safe with people that have this kind of conviction. They chose us, so from now on, they will be relying on us to navigate this world.”   
  
There was a tentative silence, then Berg gave Desmond a favourable grin and said, “You can count on me. On my honor, the children will be safe and will flourish.” But of course, Berg already had a soft spot for the children. He was a father after all, and a good one at that.   
  
Galina stood up enraged but Gavin pulled her down, “Galina, your mother, sister, and even your grandfather are back. Don’t jeopardize your second chance with them by losing your life.” Gavin looked back to Desmond. How time flies, it felt nostalgic…and also a little sad to see Desmond all grown up.    
  
Gavin nodded, “Assassins usually take care of children in communes, because of the nature of our work.” He raised a hand before anyone objected. “They will have the freedom to choose whatever they want to be when they grow up, even if they want to return to their old life or want to try something new. That is their right. Yes, Desmond. I promise none of the kids will grow up wanting.”   
  
Desmond felt a hand rest on his back and he turned to see Lucy smile at him. Shaun scratched his head awkwardly and Rebecca gave a thumbs up. He already knew their answers. He noticed Melanie was holding the hands of two of the seafaring kids, too busy breaking up their argument to answer him. He knows her answer, seeing how enchanted she was by the children, even if they were causing more trouble than it was worth.    
  
He looked towards the rest of the adults on the table. “Well?” Aveline was right, they needed more people on their side if they planned to get out of this alive. He needed confirmation that these are the adults he can trust before he leaves the kids to them.    
  
Isabelle looked towards Evie, still quiet in Letty’s arms but was observant even in her emotional state. Are all the children as brilliant as her? What would happen if Templars had a chance to hone children like Evie? What if---   
  
Isabelle closed her eyes.  _ No _ . Not like this. Not like what her own parents did to her and others like her. 

That was when Isabelle glanced at Laetitia once again. Laetitia would have no qualms about using others as stepping stones on her path to glory, especially children. Even their  _ partnership _ , Isabelle thought bitterly, was a grab for more power within the Inner Sanctum...and yet, here was Letty looking at Evie, this little girl she just met, like she hung the sun and the stars, and Letty was not even hiding it. Like Evie was  _ family _ , and wasn’t that intriguing? That something like this could bring down giants?    
  
Isabelle steepled her fingers. Maybe it was selfish of her to want for more than just this partnership. To have ulterior motives aside from the wellbeing of the children. But then...wasn’t being selfish part of being human?   
  
Evie shifted in Letty’s hold to stare at Isabelle then at the one holding her. Letty gave Evie a grin and tapped her little nose.    
  
_ If I can see Letty genuinely smile like that more often… _ _   
  
_

“Yes. I’ll do whatever I can to protect and foster the children. An Ardant’s word is law,” Isabelle said out loud.    
  
Laetitia’s eyes widened, then sparkled with joy as she looked at her partner, “I…um…yeah. It could be interesting! I’ll do it too”   
  
Violet looked down, unsure. Layla sighed and said, “I don’t think we’re talking about electronics anymore, are we?”    
  
There were chuckles. Layla was innocent in this but here she was. Kiyoshi mumbled, “I gotta tell Obaasan first…” and then Stephanie stood up.    
  
Desmond blinked when Connor made annoyed grunts as Stephanie drew closer to them. She then looked him up and down. 

“Uh…”   
  
Stephanie raised her hand to silence him and to the surprise of the Templars and the horror of her teammates, she pulled out a phone, put it on speaker and a warbled voice said,   
  
“You have exceeded even beyond expectations, Desmond Miles. We will be honored to ally with you and the people you trust to help raise the children if you will have us.”

“Who are you?”    
  
“We are your silent watchers. We have observed your war for years. You may call us  _ The Initiates. _ ”   
  


* * *

After the meeting, the adults were all pulled away by children wanting to play or trying to find more candy. Stephanie was shouted at for a few minutes, but then she came out of it with a smile. Guess she wasn’t punished too badly.

Desmond had his hands full with Ezio and Connor, once again fighting for his attention while Altair, finding it hilarious, barely lifted a finger to help. Melanie spent her energy chasing after her mini-pirates that were causing havoc. She glared at the adults who hesitated to help her catch them. Nikolai had to be dragged away by a very amused Rebecca because he had been threatening an exasperated Galina with a stick while Lucy and Shaun led a bunch of overenthusiastic children in painting pumpkins to be carved later by the adults. The results were a colorful disaster.   
  
Berg had stationed himself squatting down next to a barrel filled with floating apples with his daughter next to him, happily munching on one of said fruit. He had explained to some of the children how to bob for apples and then watched over them so they didn’t hurt themselves.    
  
Shay had wandered over with Arno in hand and Elise following them, holding their shared candy basket. Then Arno’s mouth dropped open, he pointed at one of the apples and tugged at Shay’s hand. Shay, of course, tried to get the fruit. Turns out catching apples with your teeth is very different from being a marksman. Shay huffed. Arno wanted fruit, and he was counting on Shay, so Shay had to get it for Arno.    
  
There was a light tap on Shay’s shoulder and when Shay looked up, a large apple was offered to him by a boy, maybe a year older than him. Liam O’Brien was red in the face and blushing while the girl next to Liam, around eight, was smiling at them both. “Hi, Shay…you remember us, right?” Hope Jensen asked shyly.    
  
Shay’s mouth thinned…of course he remembered his former best friends…and assassination targets. It was awkward, to say the least.    
  
Arno’s stomach growled and the baby mumbled, “ _ Pomme _ …”   
  
Shay took the apple from Liam, quietly said, “Thank you,” and then gave the apple to Arno, who thanked him with a quiet, “ _ Merci _ ” and began munching on it.    
  
Liam, hurt, exclaimed, “Shay’s a meanie!” then ran away crying. Hope sighed and said sadly, “I’ll…talk to him. See you soon, Shay.”    
  
Shay nodded, confused at what just happened.   
  
Berg locked eyes with the nearest adult, Bill, and cocked an eyebrow.  _ Oh no. Shay’s a heartbreaker.  _

Letty found herself sitting next to Isabelle watching the children jump in and out of the leaf piles (and occasionally pull some hapless adults in with them). Evie, who was sitting between the two ladies, had fallen asleep on Letty’s lap. Letty felt a tap on her shoulder and found a bunch of children led by a little boy in a red hoodie carrying buckets of candy. The little boy pushed one of the buckets closer to Letty.   
  
She grinned. She knew who this was. He looked so much like Nana Lydia, it had to be Nana’s beloved grandfather, Jacob Frye.    
  
The boy spoke nervously, “Um…we collected a lotta candy. We’ll give it to you but please give Evie back.”   
  
Letty blinked, especially when Izzy coughed in surprise. Oh that’s so  _ cute _ and sweet of them! Letty clamped down the urge to reach out and pinch Jacob’s cheeks. She gave a look at the other kids that she recognized. These were her ancestors.    
  


“I’m afraid I can’t do that. I can’t accept all this candy,” she replied, hiding her smile.    
  
“Why not!?” demanded a girl with red hair, who must’ve been the fierce Lucy Thorne. “What’s wrong with our candy?”   
  
Letty giggled. “Well, I’m an adult, I can’t eat all this candy or my teeth will rot and I’ll feel bad. Also it’s yours. I can’t, in good conscience, take it.” The kids looked dejected. Letty felt Evie stir awake. “And lastly, I think Evie wants to say something to you, young man.”   
  
Evie saw her brother and she squeaked out, “Jacob?”   
  
Jacob made a face and then began to cry, “Evie, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to get you in trouble! Please don’t leave me again.” Evie rushed to hug him and began to cry too, “I’m the one who should be saying sorry to you! I didn’t think I'd hurt you. Please don’t hate me. I’m so sorry.” 

One of the children wandered over to Letty and said, “You remind me of someone, Miss.”   
  
Letty grinned and reached out to pat his head, “Hello Baba Henry. I’ll introduce myself properly after the twins reconcile.”

The twins hugged it out and cried loudly. It was a very heartwarming scene as the day ended.   
  


* * *

Desmond, carrying both Ezio and Connor, found his father in a corner preparing Shay, Arno, and Elise for bed.    
  
There were so many children now but there were enough blankets and bedrolls given to them for a large sleepover in one of the rooms. Desmond wondered if it was courtesy of Gavin or the Inner Sanctum. Maybe even both.    
  
“Dad?”   
  
Bill froze then forced himself to relax. “Desmond.”   
  
They stared at each other awkwardly. Desmond motioned to his two charges. “I think I’ll put Ezio and Connor here between Shay. Maybe, they’ll stop fighting” 

  
Desmond put down a sleepy Ezio next to Shay and was about to transfer Connor when the boy jumped out of his arms. Connor then settled next to Ezio who curled towards the little Kenway. Connor put an arm around Ezio and the toddler finally fell asleep.    
  
Desmond’s heart melted at the adorable display. They may fight a lot, but in the end, they care about each other.    
  
Bill couldn’t help it. He smiled too. Desmond’s joy was infectious. He looked down at his own charges. The three were cocooned safely by Bill, with Shay curled toward the two babies. Desmond could see Bill’s pinkie caught in Elise’s little hand.

Desmond tentatively opened with, “Dad, I’ve made up my mind.” 

Bill chuckled staring at the children, “I know you did. You were one stubborn kid.” Bill then turned to his son, eyes conveying an emotion Desmond couldn’t name, “You also knew how to leave an impression. Honestly, was dying the only solution you can think of? And don’t just say “yes” carelessly. May I remind you that you now have all these children to look after.”

Desmond sighed. He put his head down and laid a protective arm over Ezio and Connor. “Funny. That’s what Daniel said.”   
  
Bill’s mouth thinned. Desmond closed his eyes. 

“And?” Bill asked hesitantly. Desmond smiled.

* * *

_ “Now that we’re alone, let’s talk” _   
  
Desmond, for some reason, doesn’t feel any fear being cornered by Daniel. But he was uncomfortably close.   
  
“Sure,” Desmond moved away from Daniel. “May I have a little space please?”   
  
Daniel blinked, as if he didn’t realize what he was doing, and let Desmond go. Daniel then attached the hard drive to the Animus and stroked Clay’s head tenderly. Desmond blinked at this.    
  
Daniel did not face Desmond but said, “Did you know you aren’t the only ‘chosen one’?”    
  
Desmond scratched his head, “I’m sorry.  _ What _ ?”

Daniel sighed. “You’ve been stuck in this blasted thing almost as long as me and Clay and you haven’t realized what I’m talking about?”   
  
Desmond shrugged, “No, not really. I’ve been busy trying to stay alive searching for these relics-”   
  
“Then I don’t think you realized that it was I that brought you to Abstergo.”   
  
Desmond stared at Daniel.    
  
Daniel chuckled. “You…you’re just a poor sap that got dragged into this shitshow. Why aren’t you angry about all of this bullshit?” Daniel whirled to face him. “Why do our ancestors all love you so much?”   
  
Desmond did not know what to say to that.    
  
“You’re not even scared. You probably won’t be scared if you find out that you’re going to die.”   
  
Desmond’s long experience in bartending kicked in. Daniel, for all of his bravado and posturing, was scared and angry and Desmond didn't want to second guess but he had noticed the flask of alcohol. Daniel reached inside his cloak and shoves something toward Desmond.    
  
“Here. Watch this. Hook it up to an Animus and record it.”    
  
Desmond looked down and it was the Prophecy Disk. He looked up and saw Daniel once again watching Clay carefully. Daniel said quietly, “Before you go off trying to save the world, remember you now have a lot of kids depending on you. Don’t be a martyr without even trying to find another way. Don’t you dare abandon these kids.” 

* * *

“You’re both right. The longer I get to know them, the more I know I can’t leave these kids.”   
  
Bill didn’t know he was holding his breath. He felt Shay shiver. Bill took his coat and covered the toddler and the babies between them.    
  
“But Dad. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know why the kids all look up to me. I think…I think I’ll disappoint them.”   
  
Bill sighed. “Desmond. There’s no shame in asking for help. Why not ask them?”   
  
Desmond laughed. “I never thought I’d hear that from you.”   
  
Bill closed his eyes, “Yeah. I’m so…I’m ashamed that you never felt safe to ask anything of me.” Desmond was floored. 

Bill continued, “You have people you can rely on now. Reach out to them.”    
  
Desmond smiled at his father, but he wasn’t sure if Bill could see him. It was a start and he was thankful. Maybe after all of this, Bill and Desmond could have a proper talk.    
  
Desmond could feel Connor huff quietly. Desmond patted the boy until he could feel Connor slowly settle and in the process, he too fell asleep.   
  


* * *

  
  
Desmond woke up to a feeling of someone staring at him. He looked down at Connor but Connor was fast asleep with Ezio next to him, who had a little bubble on his nostril. He looked behind him and saw Altaïr sleeping next to Malik, and then Maria with Kadar nestled between them. He saw a number of kids sleeping in tiny sleeping bags and some bundled in comforters that Desmond knew were donated.   
  
He sees Ziio a little further off next to Madeleine asleep. Next to Ziio, Haytham was sitting and staring at him.    
  
Desmond smiled. “I see now where Connor gets it.”    
  
Haytham snorted. Desmond got up and said, “What can I do for you?”   
  
Haytham stared at him then looked down, a bit red. Desmond stood up and held out a hand to the boy. “Let’s get you a snack.” Haytham took his hand and the two of them walked to the kitchen. Desmond began to make noodles for the boy when Haytham said, “If you die, that woman walks free.”   
  
Desmond turned to face Haytham. “Huh. What do you mean?”   
  
Haytham tapped his feet. “Juno. Juno is going to use you as a catalyst to bring herself back to life.”   
  
“Oh,” Desmond put the noodles in the pot. “Well I can’t let the world burn either, Haytham.”   
  


Haytham huffed, exactly like Desmond had seen Connor do on multiple occasions. Desmond chuckled. Haytham grumbled, “Miss Rebecca said something about “equivalent exchange” right? Juno needs something to materialize, it doesn’t matter where it’s from. We can just substitute you with some of the relics. She wouldn’t think of using live matter if there is a bigger temptation.”   
  
Desmond’s mouth dropped. That’s…a really good idea. 

“Why are you helping me?”  _ Why me? _   
  
Haytham looked away. “I’m sorry. I can’t say. I know we’re small and just kids right now, but please let us help you, Desmond.”    
  
Desmond was touched, and smiled at Haytham as he handed the boy food. “Thank you, Haytham, truly. You kids do so much for us.”  _ And for me but I don’t know why. _   
  
Desmond looked out at the general area and was surprised to see the two Inner Sanctum members still there, one of them asleep and protectively holding on to the twins.   
  
He also saw some of the Assassins trying to sleepily stop some of the kids from blowing up some of the leaf piles.    
  
“We’ll be okay.”   
  


* * *

It was close to the day of reckoning. The kids were somber when Desmond headed to the heart of the temple with the Apple that Altaïr, Ezio, and Connor “fixed”. Desmond spent the last month with the children, with various Assassins and Templars coming and going asking for advice from the kids and no one trying to kill each other yet. 

Desmond gave his father a quiet, “See you later,” and then proceeded to pry a crying Ezio and a very clingy Connor off his legs.    
  
“I’ll come back guys. I promise.” Desmond touched their heads, then Altaïr’s as well. Desmond looked over to Daniel, who just rolled his eyes and turned away to face his own charge.    
  
The multitude of kids all said their good-byes, and a couple of “see you soon”s and Desmond headed inside.    
  
As soon as the doors closed behind him, little Maria adjusted her sword and said out loud, “Everyone to your positions.”   
  
To the surprise of the adults, the kids scamper, some carrying relics and heading off to an unknown spot in the temple, some leading the adults away from the room they’re in.    
  
Then they waited.

* * *

Pain, unlike any other, flared up Desmond’s arm. All he could do was scream, his muscles locked in place so he could not let go of the Eye.    
  
Then, as abruptly as it started, it stopped.    
  
The woman he saw in the disc was there. She was staring at her hands, not exactly corporeal but still there. She then looked at him and frowned.    
  
“You’re not dead,” she said, as if observing the weather.    
  
Desmond, a usually level headed man, felt irrationally angry. Maybe the kids affected him with their playfulness, maybe he wanted to get this shit over with and spend more time with his kids. But he was officially done with this shit.    
  
“No shit, lady. But the world isn’t burning so I think that’s a win-win scenario for me.”   
  
Juno’s eyes narrowed. “Human, what did you do?”   
  
Desmond tried taking his hand off the eye. His arm dropped to his side with a soft thunk and his heart sank. He would not look at his arm at the moment. He wouldn’t give this lady the benefit of seeing weakness.    
  
“Wouldn’t you like to know?”   
  
Desmond took the Apple and then walked away. Juno screamed something but Desmond was too tired to hear whatever insult she was throwing at him. He felt something fly past him but at this point, he was faltering.   
  
He exits the chamber, opens the door, sees his family, and smiles, “It’s done.”   
  
He finally collapsed in his father’s arms.    
  


* * *

** _December 31, 2012_ **

John Standish parked his car in front of a small apartment building in New York City. He turned to his charges and said cheerfully, “Boys, wake up! We’re here!”   
  
Bart jolted awake then turned to little Germaine using his lap as a cushion. He gently shook the toddler awake. “Frank? Get up. We’re here.”   
  


The toddler mumbled as Bart undid their seatbelts. The two boys held hands as they followed their “brother” to the porch of the building. Standish then stopped, tilted his head, and grinned.    
  
There was a boy waiting at the steps of the building, with a woman who had her arms crossed. The boy, about seven, looked up from the book he was reading then shut it with a decisive snap.    
  
“About time you got here,” Elijah Miles said. He then turned to the woman. “Mom, these are the people I was talking about.” She breathed in and said, “Yeah, honey, I can see. You…you do look like them. I’m sorry for doubting you.”   
  
Elijah stood up and turned to head inside, “Mom prepared breakfast. Come in. We have a lot to discuss.”    
  
Standish ushered Bart and Germaine in after Elijah and his mom as the fireworks behind them began to usher in the New Year.

* * *

** _March 2013_ ** ** _  
_ ** ** _  
_ ** A family outing at the beach would usually be an idyllic way to relax and unwind. Desmond wondered, for the very first time, if they had too many kids for relaxation to ever be a possibility.    
  
Rebecca had, once again, been duped by the children and was up to her neck in sand screeching, “YOU TRAITORS, GET BACK HERE!”    
  
Lucy and Berg were busy with lunch and the grill, with their kids not too far behind. Elina, Kadar, Arno, and Elíse were being watched over by the older children and making a kind of sand fort. 

  
Melanie was picking up hermit crabs and other interesting things with her pirate kids by the shore, Layla was fiercely guarding an igniter away from Yusuf and Max, and Violet was berating Laureano for something but the boy’s shit-eating grin was something only mischievous tweens could have.    
  
Desmond looked over to the shore where Bill was having a conversation with Gavin. Shay next to them was picking up shells for Elíse and Arno and putting them in a bucket, while Maddie, Ziio, and Aveline were playing a game of jump rope with a garter.    
  
Desmond could also see Shaun with Jacob bawling and clinging to his leg, Leticia had Evie crying as well and clinging to her descendant for dear life. The two adults were trying to introduce the toddlers to the water but every time the sea reached them and touched their legs, the twins would screech bloody murder.    
  
Isabelle had her face buried in her hand in exasperation but was not willing to step in, with little Henry clinging to her own leg watching his friends in hesitation.    
  
Desmond looked at his own charges, suspiciously not causing trouble, and saw that his ancestors were resting on the picnic blanket with Daniel and a miraculously revived Clay. Daniel was trying to put sunscreen on a very squirmy Nikolai and the toddler was not having it.    
  
Desmond decided to approach the path of least destruction and plopped down next to Clay.    
  
Clay raised an eyebrow at him. “So…Birthday Boy. Your arm been acting up lately?”    
  
Desmond shook his head, “Not as much as it used to.” He observed the streaks of scars decorating his arm, like flowers blooming outwards and up. Then he smiled at Clay. “My birthday is on the 12th. It’s the 9th today.” Desmond then grinned at Daniel, “Happy birthday, old man.”    
  
Daniel grunted. “So what? It’s Edward Kenway’s birthday tomorrow. Don’t see anything special about this day versus any other day.”    
  
Nikolai made a little sound of protest at that. Daniel took that moment’s hesitation and applied the boy’s exposed face and neck with sunscreen. “Ha! Got you, Deda.” The boy grumbled, a mutinous look on his face.    
  
Desmond felt someone take his hand and he found himself looking at Maria, their shared ancestor, smiling at them. Desmond smiled at her in return.    
  
“Well, I think it’s special. After what happened at the temple? I think it’s a fantastic start to the rest of our lives.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you all so much for waiting! Here is the final chapter of HFWC and the start of the series of fics
> 
> A bunch of shorts will be uploaded independently by me, Spaced, to give my co-editor Chillin a break until the next major arc. 
> 
> Thank you for waiting so long. I was stuck with the first showdown of Juno for so long and then I realized, if she escapes in some capacity, it doesn't matter anyway. So I finished it. 
> 
> Much love and if you want to suggest shenanigans, you can visit the discord or put it in the comments below. 
> 
> until next time!- Spaced

**Author's Note:**

> Fic title is from Matchbox Twenty's awesome song "How Far We've Come" 
> 
> LOOK at the lyrics! Holy hecc it fits @_@
> 
> [Discord Here!](https://discord.gg/6Am9p58)
> 
> Honestly, be prepared for domestic Desmond dealing with the kids


End file.
